Vibration-based Energy Harvesting Systems Characterization Using Automated Electronic Equipment

A measurement bench has been developed to fully automate the procedure for the characterization of a vibration-based energy scavenging system. The measurement system is capable of monitoring all important characteristics of a vibration harvesting system (input and output voltage, current, and other parameters, frequency and acceleration values, etc.). It is composed of a PC, typical digital measuring instruments (oscilloscope, waveform generator, etc.), certain sensors and actuators, along with a microcontroller based automation module. The automation of the procedure and the manipulation of the acquired data are performed by LabVIEW software. Typical measurements of a system consisting of a vibrating source, a vibration transducer and an active rectifier are presented. Copyright © 2015 IFSA Publishing, S. L.