Energy harvesting system for IoT devices
First Claim
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1. A system for powering a device module, the system comprising:
- an energy harvesting module;
a supercapacitor chargeable by the energy harvesting module and configured to discharge power to the device module at a supercapacitor voltage;
a secondary battery configured to discharge power to the device module at a battery voltage;
a switching circuit configured to selectively discharge power from the supercapacitor during high energy demand tasks and discharge power from the secondary battery during periods between high energy demand tasks; and
a controller selectively distributing power discharged by at least one of the supercapacitor and the secondary battery to the device module, wherein the controller is configured to;
evaluate energy usage statistics for the supercapacitor and the secondary battery, the energy usage statistics include at least one of amount of power discharged, duration of power discharge, frequency of power discharge and total power discharged during the at least one energy demanding task; and
generate an alert if the collected energy usage statistics indicate that usage of the secondary battery exceeds usage of the supercapacitor.
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Abstract
A system and related methods for powering a device module of IoT device with an energy harvesting module. A supercapacitor is charged by the energy harvesting module and discharged to the device module to power the device module. The discharge from the supercapacitor may be scheduled to power demanding tasks to provide sufficient recharging periods for the supercapacitor and avoid discharging the supercapacitor when the supercapacitor is insufficiently charged.
17 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for powering a device module, the system comprising:
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an energy harvesting module; a supercapacitor chargeable by the energy harvesting module and configured to discharge power to the device module at a supercapacitor voltage; a secondary battery configured to discharge power to the device module at a battery voltage; a switching circuit configured to selectively discharge power from the supercapacitor during high energy demand tasks and discharge power from the secondary battery during periods between high energy demand tasks; and a controller selectively distributing power discharged by at least one of the supercapacitor and the secondary battery to the device module, wherein the controller is configured to; evaluate energy usage statistics for the supercapacitor and the secondary battery, the energy usage statistics include at least one of amount of power discharged, duration of power discharge, frequency of power discharge and total power discharged during the at least one energy demanding task; and generate an alert if the collected energy usage statistics indicate that usage of the secondary battery exceeds usage of the supercapacitor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for powering a device module, the method comprising:
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generating energy with an energy harvesting module; charging a supercapacitor with energy generated by the energy harvesting module; discharging power from the supercapacitor to the device module at a supercapacitor voltage during high energy demand tasks; discharging power from a secondary battery to the device module at a battery voltage during periods between high energy demand tasks; comparing the supercapacitor voltage to the battery voltage; and delaying the at least one energy demanding task when the battery voltage exceeds the supercapacitor voltage until the supercapacitor is recharged by the energy harvesting module. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification