Energy harvesting for Zigbee compliant Wireless Sensor Network nodes

Abstract

The power supply is one the main constraints when operating portable electronic devices. This fact is of extreme importance when addressing Wireless Sensor Networks operation and implementation, where early solutions used the most obvious power supply available: Batteries. Batteries have a number of drawbacks making them an important limitation when implementing large scale Wireless Sensor Networks. In this paper, a contact-less power supply using a Split-Core Toroidal Coil Current Transformer is proposed. This device is able to harvest energy from the power supply lines of domestic appliances and industrial electrical equipment. The Split-Core Current Transformer was successfully applied to power a battery-free wireless device. Moreover, a simulation model is proposed and used to design a power supply to a Zigbee compliant device. The proposed device is able to power sustained communications for this complex protocol as long as a 1A mains current exists in the power lines.