lamaPLC: Energy harvesting (EH)

Energy harvesting (EH) – also known as power harvesting, energy scavenging, or ambient power – is the process by which energy is derived from external sources (e.g., solar power, thermal energy, wind energy, salinity gradients, and kinetic energy, also known as ambient energy), then stored for use by small, wireless autonomous devices, like those used in wearable electronics, condition monitoring, and wireless sensor networks.

Energy harvesters usually provide a very small amount of power for low-energy electronics. While the input fuel to some large-scale energy generation costs resources (oil, coal, etc.), the energy source for energy harvesters is present as ambient background. For example, temperature gradients exist from the operation of a combustion engine and in urban areas, there is a large amount of electromagnetic energy in the environment due to radio and television broadcasting.

One of the first examples of ambient energy being used to produce electricity was the successful use of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) to generate the crystal radio.

The LTC®3588-1 integrates a low-loss full-wave bridge rectifier with a high efficiency buck converter to form a complete energy harvesting solution optimized for high output impedance energy sources such as piezoelectric, solar, or magnetic transducers. An ultralow quiescent current undervoltage lockout (UVLO) mode with a wide hysteresis window allows charge to accumulate on an input capacitor until the buck converter can efficiently transfer a portion of the stored charge to the output.

In regulation, the LTC3588-1 enters a sleep state in which both input and output quiescent currents are minimal. The buck converter turns on and off as needed to maintain regulation. Four output voltages, 1.8V, 2.5V, 3.3V and 3.6V, are pin selectable with up to 100mA of continuous output current; however, the output capacitor may be sized to service a higher output current burst.

An input protective shunt set at 20V enables greater energy storage for a given amount of input capacitance.

Description: YR-3180 Intelligent weighing sensor module

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