Self-powered sensor nodes for structural health monitoring

• Main Authors: Ihn, Jeong-Beom, Georgeson, Gary E, Farhangdoust, Saman
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 24.09.2024
• Subjects: AIRCRAFT; ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS; ARRANGEMENTS OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSIONTRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTINGELECTRIC POWER; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; COSMONAUTICS; ELECTRIC MACHINES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLYING SUITS; GENERATION; PARACHUTES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY; TRANSPORTING

A self-powered sensor node includes a printed wiring board connected to a patch. The printed wiring board includes a microcontroller, a transceiver, an antenna, and a power management module connected to supply electric power to the microcontroller. The patch comprises a metamaterial substrate and a piezoelectric element adhered to the metamaterial substrate. The piezoelectric element is connected to the power management module and to the microcontroller. The power management module is configured to store electric power received from the piezoelectric element. The microcontroller is configured to selectively convert electrical signals received from the piezoelectric element into sensor data and then command the transceiver to transmit the sensor data via the antenna. The metamaterial substrate has an auxetic kirigami honeycomb structure.