Scope of Energy Harvesting

Scope of Energy Harvesting
Advanced technical developments have increased the efficiency of devices in capturing trace amounts of energy from the environment and transforming them into electrical energy. In addition, advancements in microprocessor technology have increased power efficiency, effectively reducing power consumption requirements. In combination, these developments have sparked interest in the engineering community to develop more and more applications that utilize energy harvesting for power.
Energy harvesting from a natural source where a remote application is deployed, and where such natural energy source is essentially inexhaustible, is an increasingly attractive alternative to inconvenient wall plugs and costly batteries. This essentially free energy source, when designed and installed properly, is available maintenance-free and is now available throughout the lifetime of the application. Such systems can be more reliable than wall plugs or batteries.
In addition, energy harvesting can be used as an alternative energy source to supplement a primary power source and to enhance the reliability of the overall system and prevent power interruptions. The history of energy harvesting dates back to the windmill and the waterwheel. People have searched for ways to store the energy from heat and vibrations for many decades. One driving force behind the search for new energy harvesting devices is the desire to power sensor networks and mobile devices without batteries. Energy harvesting is also motivated by a desire to address the issue of climate change and global warming.
The main motivation factors for the implimentation of the RF Energy harvesting are
n Advancements in microprocessor technology- The advanced microprocessors need less power consumption
n Advanced technical developments – Even Minute amount of Energy can be harvested
n A battery alone has a short lifetime
n Solar cells has its limitations
n A steady growth in the distances over which the tags can communicate