A VIBRATION HARVESTING POWER SOURCE FOR WIRELESS SENSORS

The smaller warcraft envisioned by The Electric Warships and Combat Vehicles Future Naval Capability need to reduce the size and weight of all shipboard systems. Wireless sensors offer enormous potential for meeting these needs by eliminating heavy, costly and failure-prone wiring. Government wireless systems must include an effective security system to prevent attacks on sensitive data and the power source must not provide a means through which the sensor or network security may be compromised. Batteries are clearly not sufficient for powering these sensors due to their finite life its innate susceptibility to tampering. TPL and Washington State University (WSU) propose to develop a smart, secure, vibration energy-harvesting power system for wireless sensor clusters. The approach will combine a piezoelectric micropower generator developed at WSU with TPL’s patented miniaturized energy storage devices. Ultra-low power electronic circuitry will provide both safe charging of the energy storage system as well as security features to protect against tampering or loss of power. Successful completion of the effort will demonstrate the feasibility of a power solution that enhances the security against tamper or loss of power conditions for Navy wireless sensors while meeting the desired small size and weight constraints. BENEFITS: By 2010 the global market for wireless sensor networks is predicted to be valued close to $10B, representing 200M units, up from $200M or 1.3M units in 2005. Such wireless sensor systems will be used to 1) control industrial processes for increased autonomy; 2) monitor the environment in domestic and commercial buildings, and military and homeland security installations; and 3) monitor the structural health of buildings, bridges and aircraft. Widespread use of wireless sensors in this manner will improve safety, increase security, lower heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) costs, and increase manufacturing efficiency. To be truly wireless, each sensor unit needs a self-contained power source. TPL's patent-pending EnerPak™ products provide the solution to powering wireless sensors where it is costly, dangerous or impossible to change batteries on a regular basis.