SBIR Phase I: Vibration Harvesting for High-Temperature Wireless Sensors

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段的项目研究了利用环境振动来增加无线传感器和读取器之间的探测距离。利用自由振动本身来提高性能，是一种从现有的纯粹利用振动来收集能量的方法的范式转变。利用振动来避免半导体的材料限制，在传感、控制、数据存储和通信方面具有广泛的适用性。目前，无线传感器通过使用电子设备和/或电池来实现可用的探测范围，但这种方法对传感器节点的工作温度、成本和可靠性产生不利影响。为了解决这些问题，该项目研究了连续和循环振动，以增加无源无线传感器的探测距离。该演示将进行模拟，然后使用室温设备进行实验验证。接下来，将对振动采集器和传感器进行高温工况设计。然后，利用电子封装技术开发一种经济实惠的制造工艺。最后，将制造一个原型传感器来收集环境振动并在超过300°C的温度下工作。如果成功，这将确定可用的传感器材料和振动参数，用于在广泛的无线询问频率范围内的高温操作。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括振动利用和无线传感器方面的基本进展，以及用于状态维护和结构健康监测的高温无线传感方面的应用进展。对科学和教育的广泛影响包括现有传感器技术的新进步，以及为射频传感器，射频功率传输和高温制造的持续研究和教育提供资金。该项目包括基础分析和实验，将增加对高温下通信和机械频率行为的混合信号源的科学和技术理解。该项目的更广泛的社会影响和商业潜力将是远程监控高温机械和过程的能力，以提高使用寿命和效率，同时降低运营成本。该项目感兴趣的技术领域包括无线传感器和状态维护。即使存在温度限制，无线传感器市场预计在2008年至2012年间将增长50倍，因为与传统监测技术相比，无线传感器可以节省20-80%的成本。该项目通过在注塑、燃气轮机、石油钻井和复合材料制造等广泛的高温工业和航空航天应用中进行监测，展示了促进这一增长的途径。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project investigates the use of environmental vibrations to increase the interrogation distance between wireless sensors and their readers. The utilization of free vibrations, themselves, for increased performance is a paradigm shift away from existing approaches that use vibrations purely for energy harvesting. Using vibrations to avoid material limitations of semiconductors has broad applicability to sensing, control, data storage, and communications. Currently, wireless sensors achieve usable interrogation ranges through the use of electronics and/or batteries, but this approach adversely impacts operating temperature, cost, and reliability of the sensor node. To address these problems, this project investigates continuous and cycled vibrations to increase interrogation distance in passive wireless sensors. This demonstration will be simulated and then experimentally validated using room-temperature devices. Next, the vibration harvester and sensor will be designed for high-temperature operation. Then, an affordable fabrication process will be developed using electronic packaging techniques. Finally, a prototype sensor will be fabricated to harvests ambient vibrations and operate at temperatures in excess of 300°C. If successful, this will identify usable sensor materials and vibration parameters for high-temperature operation at a broad range of wireless interrogation frequencies. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes fundamental advances in vibration utilization and wireless sensors and applied advances in high-temperature wireless sensing for condition-based maintenance and structural health monitoring. The broader impact to science and education include a novel advance in existing sensor technology, as well as funding for continued research and education in RF sensors, RF power transfer, and high-temperature fabrication. This project includes fundamental analysis and experimentation that will increase scientific and technological understanding of mixed-signal sources for communications and mechanical frequency behavior at high-temperatures. The broader societal impact and commercial potential of this project will be the ability to remotely monitor high-temperature machinery and processes to increase lifetime and efficiency while reducing operating costs. The technology areas of interest for this project include wireless sensors and condition-based maintenance. The wireless sensor market is expected to grow 50-fold between 2008 and 2012, even with existing temperature limitations, because of 20-80% cost savings over traditional monitoring techniques. This project demonstrates a path to increase this growth by enabling monitoring in a wide range of high-temperature industrial and aerospace applications, such as injection molding, gas turbines, oil drilling, and composite manufacturing, among others.