Development of an Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting System Based on a Current Transformer for Use in Industrial Electric Motors

Predictive maintenance systems for industrial electric motors are being developed using electronic sensors and wireless communication systems incorporated into ultra-low consumption electronic circuits. If the electronic circuit is ultra-low consumption, a simple low-capacity rechargeable battery can power the system for years. However, the use of batteries on a large scale contributes to environmental pollution. To eliminate the use of batteries, several energy harvesting techniques are being used to make the electronic sensors self-sustaining. In this sense, this paper presents the development of an electromagnetic energy harvesting system based on an off-the-shelf Current Transformer (CT), with the energy management done via Integrated Circuit (IC), for use in an Internet of Things (IoT) vibration monitoring system for industrial electric motors. A process was carried out to maximize energy generation through the design of a resonant frequency tuning capacitor, optimization of the electronic circuit for energy harvesting by adjusting a shunt resistor, and energy management based on the LTC3108 IC. The resulting energy harvesting system could generate a maximum output power of 1.657 mW, representing a percentage difference of +590.42 % of the system load power consumption, it is equivalent to about 6.90 times more than the necessary to make the IoT device energetically autonomous.