A Self-Powered System for Large-Scale Strain Sensing by Combining CMOS ICs With Large-Area Electronics

作者：Hu Yingzhe^*; Huang Liechao; Rieutort Louis Warren S A; Sanz Robinson Josue; Sturm James C; Wagner Sigurd; Verma Naveen

来源：IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2014, 49(4): 838-850.

DOI：10.1109/JSSC.2013.2294326

• Choppers ( circuits)
• coupled circuits
• DC-AC power converters
• DC-DC power converters
• energy harvesting
• flexible electronics
• inductive power transmission
• sensors
• switching converters
• thin-film transistors.

We present a 2nd-generation system for high-resolution structural-health monitoring of bridges and buildings. The system combines large-area electronics ( LAE) and CMOS ICs via scalable interfaces based on inductive and capacitive coupling. This enables architectures where the functional strengths of both technologies can be leveraged to enable large-scale strain sensing scalable to cm resolution yet over large-area sheets. The system consists of three subsystems: ( 1) a power-management subsystem, where LAE is leveraged for solar-power harvesting, and CMOS is leveraged for power conversion and regulation; ( 2) a sensing subsystem, where LAE is leveraged for dense strain sensing, and CMOS is leveraged for multi-sensor acquisition; and ( 3) a communication subsystem, where LAE is leveraged for long-range interconnects, and CMOS is leveraged for low-power transceivers. The power-management subsystem achieves 30% efficiency for DC-AC power inversion and inductive power delivery to the CMOS IC and 80.5% overall efficiency for generating three voltages via DC-DC converters. The sensing subsystem has a readout noise level of 23 Strain ( 141 Strain including sensor noise), at an energy/meas. of 148 nJ and 286 nJ for readout and sensor-accessing control, respectively. The communication subsystem achieves an energy/bit of 14.6 pJ/4.3 pJ ( Tx/Rx) at a distance of 7.5 m and a data rate of 2 Mb/s.

• 出版日期2014-4