Insight and Applications in Energy Harvesting from Bullets to Birds

Abstract

Power requirements for microelectronics continue a downward trend and power production from vibrational power harvesting is ever increasing. The result is a convergence of technology that will allow for previously unattainable systems, such as infinite life wireless sensor nodes, health monitoring systems, and environmental monitoring tags, among others. The Laboratory of Intelligent Machine Systems at Cornell University has made many significant contributions to this field, pioneering new applications of piezoelectric energy harvesting, as well as contributing to harvesting circuitry and mechanical design theory. In this work, we present a variety of new applications for energy harvesting technology, including infinite life avian based bio-loggers, flutter induced vibrational wind power, and in-flight energy harvesting in munitions. We also present theoretical contributions to the field including an energy harvester beam design guide and multisource energy harvesting circuitry.