Energy Harvesting Device

This thesis evaluates the concept of Energy Harvesting as a power source for a serial measurement board used by ABB robots. A background study of possible energy harvesters is included, where the main focus is put on the overall function and what parameters determine the maximum generated power and efficiencies. Furthermore, a design of a physical proof of concept for solar as an Energy Harvesting Source is examined. The design consists of solar cells as Harvester, a Power Management Integrated Circuit for managing power requirements of the host system and an Energy Storage to be used when the source is not available. Two solar technologies, amorphous silicon cells and gallium arsenide cells, are examined and compared. The output characteristics are measured to determine their performance at different indoor illuminances. Charge- and discharge-times for a supercapacitor bank, consisting of six parallel connected supercapacitors, is examined. The host system, i.e. the serial measurement board consumes a maximum power of 1 mW. The designed Energy Harvesting System used in this thesis generates a maximum power of 1.73 mW at a light intensity of 600 Lux. A three-week long test is done with the prototype to demonstrate that this method is capable of providing the desired power.