Miniature self-powered stick-on wireless sensor node for monitoring of overhead power lines

This paper presents the design, fabrication and experimental results of a self-powered wireless sensor node that can be easily attached to overhead power lines for continuous condition monitoring. The entire sensor node, including a wireless radio platform, a power conditioning circuit and analog sensors, is powered by an AC electromechanical energy harvester, which converts magnetic field energy emanating from the current in the power lines to electric energy. The prototype presented in this work measures temperature on overhead power lines and reports these readings to a base station. The relationship between the current carried by the power lines and the the frequency at which it is able to report the temperature readings is shown by both simulation and experimental results. This work demonstrates the ability of the AC electromechanical energy harvester to power commercially available sensing and wireless electronics. Its small footprint will allow the easy installation of these sensor nodes, and potentially enable the large-scale deployment of such wireless sensor nodes for electric power infrastructures at lower costs.