Temperature and Humidity Sensor Powered by an Individual Microbial Fuel Cell in a Power Management System

Sensors

Qi Zheng³  Lei Xiong¹  Bing Mo¹  Weihong Lu³  Suki Kim²  Zhenyu Wang³ 

[1] Department of Electrical Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China; E-Mails:;Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 361021, Korea; E-Mail:;College of Food Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China; E-Mails:

关键词: microbial fuel cells (MFCs);    power management system (PMS);    sensors;    charge pump;    microcontroller unit (MCU);    boost converter;    DC-DC;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s150923126

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are of increasing interest as bioelectrochemical systems for decomposing organic materials and converting chemical energy into electricity. The main challenge for this technology is that the low power and voltage of the devices restricts the use of MFCs in practical applications. In this paper, a power management system (PMS) is developed to store the energy and export an increased voltage. The designed PMS successfully increases the low voltage generated by an individual MFC to a high potential of 5 V, capable of driving a wireless temperature and humidity sensor based on nRF24L01 data transmission modules. With the PMS, MFCs can intermittently power the sensor for data transmission to a remote receiver. It is concluded that even an individual MFC can supply the energy required to power the sensor and telemetry system with the designed PMS. The presented PMS can be widely used for unmanned environmental monitoring such as wild rivers, lakes, and adjacent water areas, and offers promise for further advances in MFC technology.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.