Thermoelectric Converters of Human Warmth for Self-Powered Wireless Sensor Nodes

• Published in: IEEE sensors journal Vol. 7; no. 5; pp. 650 - 657
• Main Authors: Leonov, V., Torfs, T., Fiorini, P., Van Hoof, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.05.2007; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bismuth telluride; body-area network; Converters; Devices; energy scavenger; Human; Humans; Lighting; Photovoltaic cells; Sensors; Skin; Solar cells; Solar power generation; Testing; Thermal sensors; Thermoelectric devices; thermoelectric generator (TEG); Thermoelectricity; thermopile; wireless sensor; Wireless sensor networks; Wrist
• ISSN: 1530-437X; 1558-1748
• DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2007.894917

Solar cells are the most commonly used devices in customer products to achieve power autonomy. This paper discusses a complementary approach to provide power autonomy to devices on a human body, i.e., thermoelectric conversion of human heat. In indoor applications, thermoelectric converters on the skin can provide more power per square centimeter than solar cells, particularly in adverse illumination conditions. Moreover, they work day and night. The first sensor nodes powered by human heat have been demonstrated and tested on people in 2004-2005. They used the state-of-the-art 100-muW watch-size thermoelectric wrist generators fabricated at IMEC and based on custom-design small-size BiTe thermopiles. The sensor node is completed with a power conditioning module, a microcontroller, and a wireless transceiver mounted on a watchstrap