TY - GEN
T1 - Efficient solar energy harvester for wireless sensor nodes
AU - Win, Ko Ko
AU - Wu, Xinhui
AU - Dasgupta, Souvik
AU - Wen, Wong Jun
AU - Kumar, Rajesh
AU - Panda, S. K.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - An efficient solar energy harvester for low power wireless sensor node is proposed in this paper. In the proposed harvester, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is achieved by using constant voltage tracking principle. The implementation of the MPPT control circuit is carried out using analog discrete components. This is to minimize the energy consumption in the electronic circuits. Experimental test results obtained from a Polycrystalline solar panel of 45 mm × 76 mm in the laboratory environment shows an average power harvesting of 400 mW under 1 sun solar insolation. The proposed harvester is used to power a battery which subsequently feeds a sensor node. The harvester system provides an overall efficiency of around 93%. The efficiency calculation takes care of power losses in the power management circuit. The solar energy harvester is also tested with a crossbow wireless sensor node (WSN) to monitor temperature in the actual outdoor field environment. The harvester is able to extend the lifetime of the wireless sensor node to almost indefinite period whereas the battery powered WSN becomes inactive after 150 hours of operation.
AB - An efficient solar energy harvester for low power wireless sensor node is proposed in this paper. In the proposed harvester, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is achieved by using constant voltage tracking principle. The implementation of the MPPT control circuit is carried out using analog discrete components. This is to minimize the energy consumption in the electronic circuits. Experimental test results obtained from a Polycrystalline solar panel of 45 mm × 76 mm in the laboratory environment shows an average power harvesting of 400 mW under 1 sun solar insolation. The proposed harvester is used to power a battery which subsequently feeds a sensor node. The harvester system provides an overall efficiency of around 93%. The efficiency calculation takes care of power losses in the power management circuit. The solar energy harvester is also tested with a crossbow wireless sensor node (WSN) to monitor temperature in the actual outdoor field environment. The harvester is able to extend the lifetime of the wireless sensor node to almost indefinite period whereas the battery powered WSN becomes inactive after 150 hours of operation.
KW - Constant voltage MPPT control circuit
KW - High performance analog control
KW - Low power solar energy harvesting circuit
KW - Ultra-low power MPPT circuit
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79851492265&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ICCS.2010.5686355
DO - 10.1109/ICCS.2010.5686355
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:79851492265
SN - 9781424470068
T3 - 12th IEEE International Conference on Communication Systems 2010, ICCS 2010
SP - 289
EP - 294
BT - 12th IEEE International Conference on Communication Systems 2010, ICCS 2010
T2 - 12th IEEE International Conference on Communication Systems 2010, ICCS 2010
Y2 - 17 November 2010 through 19 November 2010
ER -
