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Microsystems research for energy scavenging and power generation
The research has applications in health care, environmental monitoring, security, energy conservation and exploration, and more.
EnlargeA paper on microsystems for energy scavenging and power generation from environmental sources was presented by a group of students and faculty from the University of Michigan and Michigan Technological University at the 2008 Int. Conference on Commercialization of Micro and Nano Systems (COMS 2008), which was held in Puerto Vallarta in Sept. 2008, and won the Best Paper/Presentation Award. The paper is entitled “Micro Energy Scavengers,” and authors are Edward Romero, Prof. Michael Neuman, and Prof. Robert Warrington from Michigan Tech, and Tzeno Galchev, Ethem Aktakka, Niloufar Ghafouri, Hanseup Kim, and Prof. Khalil Najafi from Michigan.
Micropower environmental energy harvesting generators offer an alternative source of energy for many emerging applications of miniature instruments used in health care, environmental monitoring, security, energy conservation and exploration, and a myriad of consumer electronic devices. Harvesting energy from various environmental sources has been an area of research focus at the NSF ERC on Wireless Integrated Micro Systems Engineering Research Center (WIMS). Micro energy harvesters based on piezoelectric, electromagnetic, thermoelectric techniques from both vibration and heat sources are being developed. This research and the collaboration between Michigan and Michigan Tech is supported by the WIMS Center.
COMS is an international conference on micro- and nanotechnology commercialization and education. It was created for those who bring emerging small technologies from concept to the marketplace. COMS is the signature event for MANCEF, the Micro and Nanotechnology Commercialization Education Foundation.
Additional Information:
NSF ERC on Wireless Integrated Microsystems (wimserc.org)
Paper Citation:
E. Romero, T. Galchev, E. Aktakka, N. Ghafouri, H. Kim, M. Neuman, K. Najafi, and R. Warrington, “Micro Energy Scavengers,” Electronic Proceedings of the 2008 Int. Conference on Commercialization of Micro and Nano Systems (COMS 2008), Puerto Vallarta, Sept. 2008, Best Paper/Presentation Award.