Nowadays, wireless sensor networks are becoming increasingly important in several sectors including industry, transportation, environment and medicine. This trend is reinforced by the spread of ...Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in almost all sectors. Autonomous energy supply is thereby an essential aspect as it decides the flexible positioning and easy maintenance, which are decisive for the acceptance of this technology, its wide use and sustainability. Significant improvements made in the last years have shown interesting possibilities for realizing energy-aware wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) by designing manifold and highly efficient energy converters and reducing energy consumption of hardware, software and communication protocols. Using only a few of these techniques or focusing on only one aspect is not sufficient to realize practicable and market relevant solutions. This paper therefore provides a comprehensive review on system design for battery-free and energy-aware WSN, making use of ambient energy or wireless energy transmission. It addresses energy supply strategies and gives a deep insight in energy management methods as well as possibilities for energy saving on node and network level. The aim therefore is to provide deep insight into system design and increase awareness of suitable techniques for realizing battery-free and energy-aware wireless sensor nodes.
•An optimised process for alfa fibres extraction is proposed.•It combines mechanical, chemical and enzymatic steps.•Tensile properties of isolated fibres are improved with optimised enzymatic ...activities.•Alfa fibres are promising reinforcements for load-bearing composite materials.•Enzymes offer an attractive eco-friendly approach to efficiently extract plant fibres.
Alfa fibres, which are generally extracted from the leaf of a plant belonging to the Poaceae family (Stipa tenacissima L), originating from the center of Tunisia, are mainly used for pulp and paper applications. Their potential use as reinforcement in polymer composites requires the understanding of their microstructure and mechanical properties and a proper control of fibre extraction and transformation processes. This work investigates the morphology of the alfa plant (leaves and fibres) through optical and electron microscopy. The extraction process combining mechanical, chemical and enzymatic stages and the reaction time of the enzymes have been optimised to achieve the highest mechanical properties of fibres. The effect of enzymatic treatments (laccase, pectinases and xylanases) on the morphological, chemical composition and mechanical properties of alfa fibres was investigated and the effectiveness of enzymatic treatments has been evaluated. The chemical compositions of alfa are correlated with its mechanical properties. The result indicates that the tensile properties of isolated fibres were greatly improved when an optimised enzymatic-based process is used to separate the fibres from the leaves. Using pectinase and xylanase activities, results show really high mechanical properties, with an average rigidity and strength up to, respectively, 66GPa and 1300MPa, which make alfa fibre promising reinforcements for load-bearing composite materials. This work also showed that enzymes offer an attractive and eco-friendly approach to efficiently extract high-performance plant fibres.
Advanced sensors are becoming essential for modern factories, as they contribute by gathering comprehensive data about machines, processes, and human-machine interaction. They play an important role ...in improving manufacturing performance, in-factory logistics, predictive maintenance, supply chains, and digitalization in general. Wireless sensors and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) provide, in this context, significant advantages as they are flexible and easily deployable. They have reduced installation and maintenance costs and contributed by reducing cables and preinstalled infrastructure, leading to improved reliability. WSNs can be retrofitted in machines to provide direct information from inside the processes. Recent developments have revealed exciting possibilities to enhance energy harvesting (EH) and wireless energy transmission, enabling a reliable use of wireless sensors in smart factories. This review provides an overview of the potential of energy aware WSNs for industrial applications and shows relevant techniques for realizing a sustainable energy supply based on energy harvesting and energy transfer. The focus is on high-performance converter solutions and improvement of frequency, bandwidth, hybridization of the converters, and the newest trends towards flexible converters. We report on possibilities to reduce the energy consumption in wireless communication on the node level and on the network level, enabling boosting network efficiency and operability. Based on the existing technologies, energy aware WSNs can nowadays be realized for many applications in smart factories. It can be expected that they will play a great role in the future as an enabler for digitalization in this decisive economic sector.
Wireless sensors and sensor networks (WSNs) are nowadays becoming increasingly important due to their decisive advantages. Different trends towards the Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0 and 5G ...Networks address massive sensing and admit to have wireless sensors delivering measurement data directly to the Web in a reliable and easy manner. These sensors can only be supported, if sufficient energy efficiency and flexible solutions are developed for energy-aware wireless sensor nodes. In the last years, different possibilities for energy harvesting have been investigated showing a high level of maturity. This book gives therefore an overview on fundamentals and techniques for energy harvesting and energy transfer from different points of view. Different techniques and methods for energy transfer, management and energy saving on network level are reported together with selected interesting applications. The book is interesting for researchers, developers and students in the field of sensors, wireless sensors, WSNs, IoT and manifold application fields using related technologies. The book is organized in four major parts. The first part of the book introduces essential fundamentals and methods, while the second part focusses on vibration converters and hybridization. The third part is dedicated to wireless energy transfer, including both RF and inductive energy transfer. Finally, the fourth part of the book treats energy saving and management strategies. The main contents are: Essential fundamentals and methods of wireless sensors Energy harvesting from vibration Hybrid vibration energy converters Electromagnetic transducers Piezoelectric transducers Magneto-electric transducers Non-linear broadband converters Energy transfer via magnetic fields RF energy transfer Energy saving techniques Energy management strategies Energy management on network level Applications in agriculture Applications in structural health monitoring Application in power grids Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun is professor for measurement and sensor technology at Chemnitz university of technology. She is specialist in the field of sensors and sensor systems design.
In the internet of things context, the use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) becomes extensive and the aspect of energy supply becomes more and more essential. Flexible positioning and easy ...maintenance become a key aspect for the acceptance of this technology. In this paper, we focus on novel trends for supplying WSN from ambient energy and by wireless energy transmission. The improvements made in the last years have shown that it is possible to significantly improve energy efficiency by suitable converters and to reduce energy consumption of sensor nodes, so that the use of these emerging technologies becomes increasingly realistic and practicable. We report about possibilities for improving energy income by combination of converters within hybrid solutions. Different techniques for enhancing efficiency of energy converters and reducing energy consumption on node and network level are described.
The railroad is a particularly efficient means of transporting passengers and goods. In this field, safety, reliability, and punctuality are of great importance, despite harsh environmental ...conditions and variable loads. Predictive maintenance of train wagons, rails, and stations is becoming increasingly essential 1 and requires massive use of sensors for measuring relevant quantities, such as acceleration, temperature, pressure, strain, and changes in railroad tracks and train wheels.
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