{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]],"date-time":"2025-10-23T20:57:31Z","timestamp":1761253051780,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,4]],"date-time":"2016-03-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1457049600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"H2020 Framework Programme","award":["609000"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["609000"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Energy harvesting is currently a hot research topic, mainly as a consequence of the increasing attractiveness of computing and sensing solutions based on small, low-power distributed embedded systems. Harvesting may enable systems to operate in a deploy-and-forget mode, particularly when power grid is absent and the use of rechargeable batteries is unattractive due to their limited lifetime and maintenance requirements. This paper focuses on wind flow as an energy source feasible to meet the energy needs of a small autonomous embedded system. In particular the contribution is on the electrical converter and system integration. We characterize the micro-wind turbine, we define a detailed model of its behaviour, and then we focused on a highly efficient circuit to convert wind energy into electrical energy. The optimized design features an overall volume smaller than 64 cm3. The core of the harvester is a high efficiency buck-boost converter which performs an optimal power point tracking. Experimental results show that the wind generator boosts efficiency over a wide range of operating conditions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s16030327","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,4]],"date-time":"2016-03-04T10:53:34Z","timestamp":1457088814000},"page":"327","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["A High-Efficiency Wind Energy Harvester for Autonomous Embedded Systems"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5110-6823","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Davide","family":"Brunelli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, Trento I-38123, Italy"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1457","DOI":"10.1109\/JPROC.2008.927494","article-title":"Energy Harvesting From Human and Machine Motion for Wireless Electronic Devices","volume":"96","author":"Mitcheson","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Proc."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4258","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2009.2015754","article-title":"Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks: Challenges, Design Principles, and Technical Approaches","volume":"56","author":"Gungor","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16654","DOI":"10.3390\/s150716654","article-title":"Sparse Recovery Optimization in Wireless Sensor Networks with a Sub-Nyquist Sampling Rate","volume":"15","author":"Brunelli","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1109\/LES.2014.2371494","article-title":"Hibernus: Sustaining Computation During Intermittent Supply for Energy-Harvesting Systems","volume":"7","author":"Balsamo","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Embed. Syst. Lett."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Balsamo, D., Das, A., Weddell, A., Brunelli, D., Al-Hashimi, B., Merrett, G., and Benini, L. (2016). Graceful Performance Modulation for Power-Neutral Transient Computing Systems. IEEE Trans. Comput. Aided Des. Integr. Circuits Syst.","DOI":"10.1109\/TCAD.2016.2527713"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3210","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2014.2326799","article-title":"Benefits of Wake-Up Radio in Energy-Efficient Multimodal Surveillance Wireless Sensor Network","volume":"14","author":"Jelicic","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"618","DOI":"10.1147\/sj.353.0618","article-title":"Human-powered wearable computing","volume":"35","author":"Starner","year":"1996","journal-title":"IBM Syst. J."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Weddell, A.S., Magno, M., Merrett, G.V., Brunelli, D., Al-Hashimi, B.M., and Benini, L. (2013, January 18\u201322). A survey of multi-source energy harvesting systems. Proceedings of the Design, Automation Test in Europe Conference Exhibition, Grenoble, France.","DOI":"10.7873\/DATE.2013.190"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1109\/SURV.2011.060710.00094","article-title":"Energy Harvesting Sensor Nodes: Survey and Implications","volume":"13","author":"Sudevalayam","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Carli, D., Brunelli, D., Benini, L., and Ruggeri, M. (2011, January 14\u201318). An effective multi-source energy harvester for low power applications. Proceedings of the Design, Automation Test in Europe Conference Exhibition, Grenoble, France.","DOI":"10.1109\/DATE.2011.5763142"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ahola, J., Ahonen, T., Sarkimaki, V., Kosonen, A., Tamminen, J., Tiainen, R., and Lindh, T. (2008, January 11\u201313). Design Considerations for Current Transformer Based Energy Harvesting for Electronics Attached to Electric Motor. Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion, Ischia, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/SPEEDHAM.2008.4581191"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"766","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mejo.2010.05.003","article-title":"Comparison of Energy Intake Prediction Algorithms for Systems Powered by Photovoltaic Harvesters","volume":"41","author":"Bergonzini","year":"2010","journal-title":"Microelectron. J."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Carli, D., Brunelli, D., Bertozzi, D., and Benini, L. (2010, January 14\u201316). A high-efficiency wind-flow energy harvester using micro turbine. Proceedings of the 2010 International Symposium on Power Electronics Electrical Drives Automation and Motion, Pisa, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/SPEEDAM.2010.5542121"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Boyle, D., Magno, M., O\u2019Flynn, B., Brunelli, D., Popovici, E., and Benini, L. (2011, January 6\u20139). Towards persistent structural health monitoring through sustainable wireless sensor networks. Proceedings of the 2011 7th International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, Adelaide, Australia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ISSNIP.2011.6146587"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"946","DOI":"10.1109\/TII.2013.2295198","article-title":"Ensuring Survivability of Resource-Intensive Sensor Networks Through Ultra-Low Power Overlays","volume":"10","author":"Magno","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Inform."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"471","DOI":"10.1109\/JESTPE.2014.2316527","article-title":"Adaptive Rectifier Driven by Power Intake Predictors for Wind Energy Harvesting Sensor Networks","volume":"3","author":"Porcarelli","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE J. Emerg. Sel. Top. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"850","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2009.2024652","article-title":"Kinetic Energy Harvesting Using Piezoelectric and Electromagnetic Technologies\u2014State of the Art","volume":"57","author":"Khaligh","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"288","DOI":"10.1109\/TCSI.2005.856043","article-title":"A variable-capacitance vibration-to-electric energy harvester","volume":"53","author":"Yen","year":"2006","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I Regul. Pap."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1551","DOI":"10.1109\/TCSI.2011.2142731","article-title":"Harvesting Ambient Kinetic Energy With Switched-Inductor Converters","volume":"58","author":"Kwon","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I Regul. Pap."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1742","DOI":"10.1109\/TCSI.2008.922023","article-title":"An Adaptive System for Optimal Solar Energy Harvesting in Wireless Sensor Network Nodes","volume":"55","author":"Alippi","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I Regul. Pap."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2519","DOI":"10.1109\/TCSI.2009.2015690","article-title":"Design of a Solar-Harvesting Circuit for Batteryless Embedded Systems","volume":"56","author":"Brunelli","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I Regul. Pap."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"831","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2009.2022511","article-title":"An Efficient Wind-Photovoltaic Hybrid Generation System Using Doubly Excited Permanent-Magnet Brushless Machine","volume":"57","author":"Liu","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1063\/1.2435346","article-title":"Small scale windmill","volume":"90","author":"Myers","year":"2007","journal-title":"Appl. Phys. Lett."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5020","DOI":"10.3390\/s150305020","article-title":"A Wind Energy Powered Wireless Temperature Sensor Node","volume":"15","author":"Zhang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, F., Xiang, T., Chi, Z., Luo, J., Tang, L., Zhao, L., and Yang, Y. (2013, January 11\u201315). Powering Indoor Sensing with Airflows: A Trinity of Energy Harvesting, Synchronous Duty-cycling, and Sensing. Proceedings of the 11th ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems, Roma, Italy.","DOI":"10.1145\/2517351.2517393"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2298","DOI":"10.1109\/TPEL.2011.2172960","article-title":"Low-Power Design of a Self-powered Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System with Maximum Power Point Tracking","volume":"27","author":"Kong","year":"2012","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"82","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mee.2013.02.009","article-title":"Wind energy harvesting based on flow-induced-vibration and impact","volume":"111","author":"He","year":"2013","journal-title":"Microelectron. Eng."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125009","DOI":"10.1088\/0960-1317\/23\/12\/125009","article-title":"A micromachined low-frequency piezoelectric harvester for vibration and wind energy scavenging","volume":"23","author":"He","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Micromech. Microeng."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Weimer, M.A., Paing, T.S., and Zane, R.A. (2006, January 18\u201322). Remote area wind energy harvesting for low-power autonomous sensors. Proceedings of the IEEE 37th Power Electronics Specialists Conference, Jeju, Korea.","DOI":"10.1109\/pesc.2006.1712213"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Park, C., and Chou, P.H. (2006, January 28). AmbiMax: Autonomous Energy Harvesting Platform for Multi-Supply Wireless Sensor Nodes. Proceedings of the 2006 3rd Annual IEEE Communications Society on Sensor and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks, Reston, VA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/SAHCN.2006.288421"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Porcarelli, D., Brunelli, D., Magno, M., and Benini, L. (2012, January 20\u201322). A Multi-Harvester architecture with hybrid storage devices and smart capabilities for low power systems. Proceedings of the 2012 International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion, Sorrento, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/SPEEDAM.2012.6264533"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"120","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2008.04.005","article-title":"Sun, wind and water flow as energy supply for small stationary data acquisition platforms","volume":"64","author":"Morais","year":"2008","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Porcarelli, D., Brunelli, D., and Benini, L. (2013, January 11\u201315). Improving the Efficiency of Air-flow Energy Harvesters Combining Active and Passive Rectifiers. Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Energy Neutral Sensing Systems, Roma, Italy.","DOI":"10.1145\/2534208.2534209"},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Introducing the MicroWindbelt. Available online: www.humdingerwind.com."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wu, Y., Liu, W., and Zhu, Y. (2013, January 23\u201325). Design of a wind energy harvesting wireless sensor node. Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Information Science and Technology, Yangzhou, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICIST.2013.6747820"},{"key":"ref_36","first-page":"3576","article-title":"An Efficient Piezoelectric Windmill Topology for Energy Harvesting From Low-Speed Air Flows","volume":"62","author":"Tabesh","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"38","DOI":"10.1109\/TPEL.2010.2056700","article-title":"Optimized Wind Energy Harvesting System Using Resistance Emulator and Active Rectifier for Wireless Sensor Nodes","volume":"26","author":"Tan","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dall\u2019Ora, R., Raza, U., Brunelli, D., and Picco, G. (2014, January 8\u201311). SensEH: From simulation to deployment of energy harvesting wireless sensor networks. Proceedings of the IEEE 39th Conference on Local Computer Networks Workshops, Edmonton, AB, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/LCNW.2014.6927704"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"840","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2009.2037648","article-title":"A Low-Power Stand-Alone Adaptive Circuit for Harvesting Energy From a Piezoelectric Micropower Generator","volume":"57","author":"Tabesh","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dondi, D., Bertacchini, A., Larcher, L., Pavan, P., Brunelli, D., and Benini, L. (2008, January 24\u201327). A solar energy harvesting circuit for low power applications. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies, Singapore.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICSET.2008.4747143"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Moon, J., and Leeb, S. (,  2015). Power loss analysis with high primary current in magnetic energy harvesters. Proceedings of the IEEE 16th Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics, Vancouver, BC, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/COMPEL.2015.7236503"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"669","DOI":"10.1109\/TPEL.2002.802194","article-title":"Adaptive piezoelectric energy harvesting circuit for wireless remote power supply","volume":"17","author":"Ottman","year":"2002","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"696","DOI":"10.1109\/TPEL.2003.809379","article-title":"Optimized piezoelectric energy harvesting circuit using step-down converter in discontinuous conduction mode","volume":"18","author":"Ottman","year":"2003","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Paing, T.S., and Zane, R.A. (2006, January 18\u201322). Resistor Emulation Approach to Low-Power Energy Harvesting. Proceedings of the IEEE 37th Power Electronics Specialists Conference, Jeju, South Korea.","DOI":"10.1109\/pesc.2006.1711785"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2018","DOI":"10.1109\/TPEL.2007.904230","article-title":"Adaptive piezoelectric energy harvesting circuit for wireless remote power supply","volume":"22","author":"Lefeuvre","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Power Electron."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1318","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2009.2029514","article-title":"Discontinuous-Conduction Mode DC\/DC Converters Feeding Constant-Power Loads","volume":"57","author":"Rahimi","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."},{"key":"ref_47","unstructured":"Rajasekaran, A., Hande, A., and Bhatia, D. (2008, January 7\u20139). Buck-boost converter based power conditioning circuit for low excitation vibrational energy harvesting. Proceedings of the 3rd Austin Conference on Integrated Systems & Circuits, Silicon Hills, TX, USA."},{"key":"ref_48","unstructured":"Pallabazzer, R. (2004). Sistemi Eolici, Rubettino Editore."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kazimierczuk, M.K. (2008). Pulse-width Modulated DC-DC Power Converters, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470694640"},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Erickson, R.W., and Maksimovi\u0107, D. (2001). Fundamentals of Power Electronics, Springer Science + Business Media, LLC. [2 ed.].","DOI":"10.1007\/b100747"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2759","DOI":"10.1109\/TIE.2008.924449","article-title":"Modeling and Optimization of a Solar Energy Harvester System for Self-Powered Wireless Sensor Networks","volume":"55","author":"Dondi","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/16\/3\/327\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T19:20:08Z","timestamp":1760210408000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/16\/3\/327"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,4]]},"references-count":51,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,3]]}},"alternative-id":["s16030327"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s16030327","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-8220"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,4]]}}}