An experimental strategy for characterizing inductive electromagnetic energy harvesters

Condition monitoring of high voltage power lines through self-powered sensor systems has become a priority for utilities with the aim of detecting potential problems, enhancing reliabilityof the power transmission and distribution networks and mitigating the adverse impact of faults. Energy harvesting from the magnetic field generated by the alternating current flowing through highvoltage lines can supply the monitoring systems with the required power to operate without relying onhard-wiring or battery-based approaches. However, developing an energy harvester, which scavengesthe power from such a limited source of energy, requires detailed design considerations, which maynot result in a technically and economically optimal solution. This paper presents an innovativesimulation-based strategy to characterize an inductive electromagnetic energy harvester and the power conditioning system. Performance requirements in terms of the harvested power and output voltage range, or level of magnetic core saturation can be imposed. Different harvester configurations, whichsatisfy the requirements, have been produced by the simulation models. The accuracy and efficiency ofthis approach is verified with an experimental setup based on an energy harvester, which consists ofa Si-steel magnetic core and a power conditioning unit. For the worst-case scenario with a primary current of 5 A, the maximum power extracted by the harvester can be as close as 165 mW, resulting ina power density of 2.79 mW/cm3.Comunidad de MadridAgencia Estatal de Investigació