Fluorescent Troffer-powered Internet of Things: An Experimental Study of Electric-field Energy Harvesting

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel energy harvesting method using ambient electric fields from fluorescent lights to power IoT devices without batteries, demonstrated through experimental prototype testing.

Contribution

It presents a new electric-field energy harvesting architecture utilizing fluorescent lighting, including design, modeling, and experimental validation.

Findings

Harvests approximately 1.25 J in 25 minutes with a 0.1 F super-capacitor

Provides both theoretical and experimental evaluation of the power

Demonstrates potential for battery-less IoT sensor networks

Abstract

A totally new energy harvesting architecture that exploits ambient electric-field (E-field) emitting from fluorescent light fixtures is presented. A copper plate, 50 x 50 cm in size, is placed in between the ambient field to extract energy by capacitive coupling. A low voltage prototype is designed, structured and tested on a conventional ceiling-type 4-light fluorescent troffer operating in 50 Hz 220 V AC power grid. It is examined that the harvester is able to collect roughly 1.25 J of energy in 25 min when a 0.1 F of super-capacitor is employed. The equivalent circuit and the physical model of the proposed harvesting paradigm are provided, and the attainable power is evaluated in both theoretical and experimental manner. The scavenged energy is planned to be utilized for building battery-less Internet of Things (IoT) networks that are obliged to sense environmental parameters, analyze the gathered data, and remotely inform a higher authority within predefined periods.