Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting in Automobiles

Powering the distributed or embedded wireless sensors from ambient vibration energy has attracted many attentions. It will reduce the installment trouble and maintenance costs. This work reports on vibration levels detected in automobiles during road test as a potential energy source for automobile sensors. A piezoelectric vibration harvester was designed and equipped with a simple harvesting circuit. The measurement results showed that the vibrations in the automobiles are large enough to possibly supply a wireless sensor.