Development of energy harvesting system for self-powered Internet of Things

Abstract

The demand for Internet of Things (IoT) devices has been increasing over the years and this implies a growing need for sustainable and self-sufficient power solutions to ensure uninterrupted operation. Due to the abundance and consistent amount of ambient lighting available, indoor photovoltaic (PV) cells present a promising approach to energy harvesting for low-power devices.

In this project, an IoT sensor node has been developed through the use of various key components including an array of indoor PV cells, a microcontroller, an energy storage unit such as rechargeable batteries, voltage regulators and sensors for data sensing and communication. With these key components, the project aims to develop an IoT sensor node that is tailored for indoor applications, by leveraging PV cells to harness ambient indoor lighting. In the presence of indoor lighting, these PV cells will be able to convert light energy into electrical energy which will be used to recharge the energy storage unit to ensure a long and uninterrupted operation of the IoT system. As a result, environmental data such as Temperature and Humidity levels are also gathered and transmitted from a microcontroller to an online cloud platform via WiFi. All these sensor readings are then captured in the cloud server which can be retrieved at any time for monitoring purposes.

At the same time, experimental testing of the IoT circuit has been conducted in this project to determine the viability and effectiveness of harvesting energy from various indoor lighting sources to simulate real-world settings and power management techniques have been employed to ensure minimal power consumption and autonomy of such IoT deployments.