SMART ENERGY HARVESTING DEVICES

The specific objectives are functional to the professional figure that the course aims to address, that of the expert in the field of energy harvesting devices from conventional and also unconventional environmental sources. The "smart" context concerns the possibility of assisting other functions of interest in the engineering field, including the possibility of measuring physical quantities of interest. Different fields of application will be considered with particular emphasis on electrical machines, power systems, industrial architectures.

Frontal lessons

Unit 1. Introduction

Energy harvesting, conventional and unconventional environmental sources, application areas.

Unit 2. Transduction systems

Materials, technologies and transduction mechanisms in energy harvesters from external sources (eg vibrations, noisy environments, thermal gradients, light sources, moving fluids, etc.).

Unit 3. Metrics and performance

Metrological characteristics of interest for estimating performance in energy harvesters. Metrological characterization.

Unit 4. Energy harvesting from periodic sources

Linear dynamical systems, conversion mechanisms, efficiency. Sources and waveforms. Design, modeling and simulation. Case studies: 50 Hz sources, electromechanical systems, power systems and electrical network.

Unit 5. Energy harvesting from random sources

Nonlinear dynamical systems, role of nonlinearities and efficiency. Sources and waveforms. Design, modeling and simulation. Case studies: noisy industrial vibration sources, noisy environments and induced signals.

Unit 6. Scaling

Energy harvesting in macro/micro and nano-metric scale. Processes, materials and fabrication. Design, modeling and simulation. Performance.

Unit 7. Conditioning circuits

Classic solutions. Innovative approaches for energy harvesting from vibrations, including random and low amplitude diode-less solutions and converters. Zero‑standby methods. Coupled systems for signal conditioning.

Unit 8. Autonomous and quasi-autonomous measurement systems

Characteristics of measurement systems and autonomous or quasi-autonomous nodes. Smart energy harvesting for sensing and scavenging. Design criteria.

Unit 9. Energy harvesting systems based on innovative materials/solutions

Hybrid solutions, multi-source energy harvesting, multifunctional materials.

Unit 10. Green energy harvesters

Materials, structures and principles for the realization of eco-friendly and biodegradable transducers. Realization processes, design and characterization. Linear and nonlinear systems based on bacterial cellulose for energy harvesting from vibrations.

Unit 11. Laboratory

Validation of the theoretical concepts. Design/implementation/characterization of energy harvesters and intelligent measurement devices in the context of electrical systems and industrial architectures.

Priya, S., & Inman, D. J. (Eds.). (2009). Energy harvesting technologies (Vol. 21, p. 2). New York: Springer.

Kazmierski, T. J., & Beeby, S. (2014). Energy harvesting systems (p. 2011). New York: Springer.