A Low-Cost Electric Field Energy Harvester for an MV/HV Asset-Monitoring Smart Sensor

作者：Moghe Rohit^*; Iyer Amrit R; Lambert Frank C; Divan Deepak

来源：IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 2015, 51(2): 1828-1836.

DOI：10.1109/TIA.2014.2354741

• Electric fields (E-fields)
• energy harvesting
• smart sensors

This paper investigates the powering of smart grid sensors with electric fields (E-fields) present in abundance near most medium-voltage to high-voltage (MV/HV) utility assets. A unique E-field energy harvester is proposed, which is integrated into a sensor's enclosure, thereby ensuring low-cost and compact size. The proposed energy harvester can be used with multiple assets by virtue of its shape, which also allows installation without interruption of the MV/HV asset. Design methodology of the harvester through Maxwell simulations along with a new and efficient circuit design for obtaining a regulated dc supply is presented. A medium-voltage prototype of the proposed E-field energy harvester integrated with a wireless voltage sensor is built and tested on a 35-kV bus. The prototype provides 17 mW of continuous power at 35 kV with a high energy density. This power is enough to operate a low-duty-cycle sensor node stuck on to an MV/HV asset. The prototype shows promising results and demonstrates the efficacy of using E-fields for powering smart grid sensors for MV/HV assets.

• 出版日期2015-4