Energy Options for Wireless Sensor Nodes.docVIP

Sensors 2008, 8, 8037-8066; DOI: 10.3390/s8128037 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Review Energy Options for Wireless Sensor Nodes Chris Knight 1,*, Joshua Davidson 2 and Sam Behrens 1 1 CSIRO Energy Technology, PO Box 330, Newcastle NSW 2300, Australia. E-Mail: sam.behrens@csiro.au 2 School of Maths, Physics Information Technology, James Cook University, Townsville QLD 4811, Australia. E-Mail: joshua.davidson@.au * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: chris.knight@csiro.au; Tel.: +61-2- 4960-6049; Fax: +61-2-4960-6111 Received: 24 September 2008; in revised form: 3 December 2008 / Accepted: 5 December 2008 / Published: 8 December 2008 Abstract: Reduction in size and power consumption of consumer electronics has opened up many opportunities for low power wireless sensor networks. One of the major challenges is in supporting battery operated devices as the number of nodes in a network grows. The two main alternatives are to utilize higher energy density sources of stored energy, or to generate power at the node from local forms of energy. This paper reviews the state-of-the art technology in the field of both energy storage and energy harvesting for sensor nodes. The options discussed for energy storage include batteries, capacitors, fuel cells, heat engines and betavoltaic systems. The field of energy harvesting is discussed with reference to photovoltaics, temperature gradients, fluid flow, pressure variations and vibration harvesting. Keywords: Energy Harvesting; Energy Storage; Wireless Sensor Networks, Sensor Nodes 1. Introduction Reduction in size and power consumption of consumer electronics has opened up many new opportunities for low power wireless sensor networks. Such networks have significant potential in a  Sensors 2008, 8 8038 variety of applications, including monitoring of animal health and behaviour, structural monitoring for