Human Body Energy Harvesting Thermogenerator for Sensing Applications

Author

Mateu, Loreto ; Codrea, Cosmin ; Lucas, Néstor ; Pollak, Markus ; Spies, Peter

Author_Institution

Univ. Polytech. de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona

fYear

2007

fDate

14-20 Oct. 2007

Firstpage

366

Lastpage

372

Abstract

A low temperature thermal energy harvesting system to supply power to wireless sensing modules is introduced. The thermoelectric generator module (TEG) makes use of the temperature gradient between the human body (the heat source) and the ambient to deliver a low voltage output that is up-converted by means of a power management circuit. This regulated power source is able to reliably supply a wireless communication module that transmits the collected temperature, current and voltage measurements.

Keywords

telecommunication power supplies; thermoelectric devices; wireless sensor networks; current measurements; human body energy harvesting thermogenerator; power management circuit; temperature measurements; thermoelectric generator module; voltage measurements; wireless communication module; wireless sensing modules; Energy management; Humans; Low voltage; Power generation; Power supplies; Power system management; Temperature sensors; Thermal management; Thermoelectricity; Wireless sensor networks;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sensor Technologies and Applications, 2007. SensorComm 2007. International Conference on

Conference_Location

Valencia

Print_ISBN

978-0-7695-2988-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SENSORCOMM.2007.4394949

Filename

4394949