• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2022

Self-powered sensors play an important role in everyday life, and they cover a wide range of topics. These sensors are meant to measure the amount of relevant motion and transform the biomechanical activities into electrical signals using triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) since they are sensitive to external stimuli such as pressure, temperature, wetness, and motion. The present advancement of TENGs-based self-powered wearable, implantable, and patchable sensors for healthcare monitoring, human body motion, and medication delivery systems was carefully emphasized in this study. The use of TENG technology to generate electrical energy in real-time using self-powered sensors has been the topic of considerable research among various leading scholars. TENGs have been used in a variety of applications, including biomedical and healthcare physical sensors, wearable devices, biomedical, human-machine interface, chemical and environmental monitoring, smart traffic, smart cities, robotics, and fiber and fabric sensors, among others, as efficient mechanical-to-electric energy conversion technologies. In this evaluation, the progress accomplished by TENG in several areas is extensively reviewed. There will be a discussion on the future of self-powered sensors.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.293-300
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• 2022

Flexible, wearable, and implantable electronic sensors have started to gain popularity in improving the quality of life of sick and healthy people, shifting the future paradigm with high sensitivity. However, conventional technologies with a limited lifespan occasionally limit their continued usage, resulting in a high cost. In addition, traditional battery technologies with a short lifespan frequently limit operation, resulting in a substantial challenge to their growth. Subsequently, utilizing human biomechanical energy is extensively preferred motion for biologically integrated, self-powered, functioning devices. Ideally suited for this purpose are piezoelectric energy harvesters. To convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, devices must be mechanically flexible and stretchable to implant or attach to the highly deformable tissues of the body. A systematic analysis of piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) for personalized healthcare is provided in this article. This article briefly overviews PENGs as self-powered sensor devices for energy harvesting, sensing, physiological motion, and healthcare.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.301-306
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• 2022

With the recent widespread implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) technology driven by Industry 4.0, self-powered sensors for wearable and implantable systems are increasingly gaining attention. Piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) and triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), which convert biomechanical energy into electrical energy, can be considered as efficient self-powered sensor platforms. These are energy harvesters that are used as low-power energy sources. However, they can also be used as sensors when an output signal is used to sense any mechanical stimuli. For sensors, collecting high-quality data is important. However, the accuracy of sensing for practical applications is equally important. This paper provides a brief review of the performance advanced by the materials and structures of the latest PENG/TENG-based wearable sensors and intelligent applications applied using artificial intelligence (AI)

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2023

Innovative and advanced technologies, including robots, augmented reality, virtual reality, the Internet of Things, and wearable medical equipment, have largely emerged as a result of the rapid evolution of modern society. For these applications, pressure monitoring is essential and pressure sensors have attracted considerable interest. To improve the sensor performance, several new designs of pressure sensors have been researched based on resistive, capacitive, piezoelectric, optical, and triboelectric types. In particular, optical pressure sensors have been actively studied owing to their advantages, such as robustness to noise and remote sensing capability. Herein, a review of recent research on optical pressure sensors with self-powered sensing, remote sensing, high spatial resolution, and multimodal sensing capabilities is presented from the viewpoints of design, fabrication, and signal processing.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.10b
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• pp.264-266
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• 2005

Recently, on-line diagnosis methods through wired and wireless networks are widely adopted in the diagnosis of industrial Electric Facilities, such as generators, transformers and motors. Also smart sensors which includes sensors, signal conditioning circuits and micro-controller in one board are widely studied in the field of condition monitoring. This paper suggests an self-powered system suitable for condition-monitoring smart sensors, which uses parasitic vibrations of the facilities as energy source. First, vibration-driven noise patterns of the electric facilities are presented. And then, an electromagnetic generator which uses mechanical mass-spring vibration resonance are suggested and designed. Finally energy consumption of the presented smart sensor, which consists of MEMS vibration sensors, signal conditioning circuits, a low-power consumption micro-controller, and a ZIGBEE wireless tranceiver, are presented. The usefulness and limits of the presented electromagnetic generators in the field of electric facility monitoring are also suggested.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.311-317
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• 2019

Rotating devices are commonly installed in power plants and factories. This study proposes a self-powered sensor node that is powered by converting the vibration energy of a rotating device into electrical energy. The self-powered sensor consists of a piezoelectric harvester for self-power generation, a rectifier circuit to rectify the AC signal, a sensor unit for measuring the vibration frequency, and a circuit to control the light emitting diode (LED) lighting. The frequency of the vibration source was measured using a piezoelectric-cantilever-type vibration frequency sensor. A green LED was illuminated when the measured frequency was within the normal range. The power generated by the piezoelectric harvester was determined, and the LED operation was assessed in terms of the vibration frequency. The piezoelectric harvester was found to generate a power of 3.061 mW or greater at a vibration acceleration of 1.2 g ($1g=9.8m/s^2$) and vibration frequencies between 117 and 123 Hz. Notably, the power generated was 4.099 mW at 122 Hz. As such, our self-powered sensor node can be used as a module for monitoring rotating devices, because it can convert vibration energy into electrical energy when installed on rotating devices such as air compressors.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.125-133
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• 2022

Along with the increasing need for point-of-care diagnostics, development of portable, user-friendly, as well as sensitive sensors have gained intensive attention. Among various strategies, electrochromic sensors, which are electrochemically operated colorimetric sensors, have been actively studied. With their ability to report the presence and concentration of analytes by optical signals, electrochromic sensors utilize the advantages of both electrochemical and colorimetric sensors, enabling the simplification of device composition as well as convenient interpretation of results. Up to date, electrochromic sensors have been applied for a wide range of analytes, and further developments such as the introduction of flexible platforms or self-powered systems have been reported, providing a path towards the development of wearable sensor devices. In this review, various types of electrochromic sensors, according to the main strategy in which the electrochemical signals are converted to colorimetric signals, are introduced.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2007

The energy efficiency of a self-powered wireless sensing system for pressure monitoring in injection molding is analyzed using Bond graph models. The sensing system, located within the mold cavity, consists of an energy converter, an energy modulator, and a ultrasonic signal transmitter. Pressure variation in the mold cavity is extracted by the energy converter and transmitted through the mold steel to a signal receiver located outside of the mold, in the form of ultrasound pulse trains. Through Bond graph models, the energy efficiency of the sensing system is characterized as a function of the configuration of a piezoceramic stack within the energy converter, the pulsing cycle of the energy modulator, and the thicknesses of the various layers that make up the ultrasonic signal transmitter. The obtained energy models are subsequently utilized to identify the minimum level of signal intensity required to ensure successful detection of the ultrasound pulse trains by the signal receiver. The Bond graph models established have shown to be useful in optimizing the design of the various constituent components within the sensing system to achieve high energy conversion efficiency under a compact size, which are critical to successful embedment within the mold structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.49-49
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• 2010

Nanopiezotronics is an emerging area of nanotechnology with a variety of applications that include piezoelectric field-effect transistors and diodes, self-powered nanogenerators and biosystems, and wireless nano/biosensors. By exploiting coupled piezoelectric and semiconducting characteristics, it is possible for nanowires, nanobelts, or nanorods to generate rectifying current and potential under external mechanical energies such as body movement (handling, winding, pushing, and bending) and muscle stretching, vibrations (acoustic and ultrasonic waves), and hydraulic forces (body fluid and blood flow). Fully transparent, flexible (TF) nanogenerators that are operated by external mechanical forces will be presented. By controlling the density of the seed layer for ZnO nanorod growth, transparent ZnO nanorod arrays were grown on ITO/PES films, and a TF conductive electrode was stacked on the ZnO nanorods. The resulting integrated TF nanodevice (having transparency exceeding 70 %) generated a noticeable current when it was pushed by application of an external load. The output current density was clearly dependent on the force applied. Furthermore, the output current density depended strongly on the morphology and the work function of the top electrode. ZnO nanorod-based nanogenerators with a PdAu, ITO, CNT, and graphene top electrodes gave output current densities of approximately $1-10\;uA/cm^2$ at a load of 0.9 kgf. Our results suggest that our TF nanogenerators are suitable for self-powered TF device applications such as flexible self-powered touch sensors, wearable artificial skins, fully rollable display mobile devices, and battery supplements for wearable cellular phones.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.46-47
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• 2011