A Multi-Source Energy Harvesting Sensory Glove Electronic Architecture

We present a multi-source energy harvesting architecture, aimed to enhancing the battery last in powering the electronics of a sensory glove, capable to sense fingers movements. In particular, the proposed architecture is based on Radio Frequency, Piezoelectric and Thermoelectric harvesters. The glove is equipped with flex sensors and built-in electronics which includes a microcontroller and a transmitter. The overall harvesting system was built and tested as a prototype discrete element board, that is interfaced with an external microcontroller and a radiofrequency transmitter board. Measurement results demonstrated a meaningful improvement in battery operation life time up to 22%, considering different operating scenarios.