Condition monitoring with energy harvesting from vibrations

This paper presents a concept for wireless sensor nodes using vibration energy harvesting. Using a pump station as a case study, a solution for choosing a suitable energy harvester is shown. With the harvested energy, condition measurements of the pump station are performed. The dynamic vibrations are recorded and processed by means of an acceleration sensor. The data are send wireless to a service device using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). The system is optimized for low power consumption. An experimental set-up is used to analyze the influences of vibration intensity. The energy balance of both, the harvesting and the consuming side is investigated. The experimental results demonstrate that vibration energy harvesting is highly interesting for wireless sensor applications