Power Harvesting for Encrypted Wireless Sensor Clusters

Techno-Sciences, Inc. (TSi) in collaboration with the Smart Structures Laboratory Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), proposes to develop an innovative energy harvesting device suitable for integration with electronics for data acquisition and wireless transmission used as a node. The energy harvester will be mounted to a substructure and use ambient vibrations for energy generation. A compact structure will be used with an active material which converts mechanical deformation into electrical energy and use appropriate circuitry to interface with a battery element. The energy harvester can be tuned to expected vibration spectrum of the substructure. Small vibrations can be amplified by proper tuning to get larger energy extraction. Data acquisition from proposed sensor elements will be gathered and transmitted back to a host system using a communication network based on established security standards. BENEFITS: The energy harvesting device can be tuned to the specific component on which it will be mounted. Myriad appliations such as turbine engines or transmissions, and other machinery can be monitored using the proposed technology. Besides application to naval vessels, this proposed package may be retrofitted to existing naval and aerospace systems as well as designed into the general structural health monitoring systems, both civillian and commercial, to enable condition-based maintence.