Non-contact energy harvester using rotation of roller conveyor and its application to ZigBee based wireless communication module

Recent years, the progress of Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted attention, and its introduction is being considered in various fields of industry. Many companies seek to improve services by using IoT to improve the intelligence of factories or logistics systems. When installing IoT devices in factories and logistics systems, there are several problems such as installation of power supply costs and wiring costs. Therefore, the authors have proposed one of the unique energy harvesting technology solutions that can supply power from the factory's conductive roller conveyor without physical contact. The proposed energy harvester is driven by eddy currents from a rotating conductive roller conveyor. The rectifier after the generator boosts generated voltage double and supply energy to operate wireless device. The ZigBee based wireless communication module received energy from the energy harvester can communicate with other side host wireless communication module. If this system is applied in factories or distribution centers around the world, it may be taken the merits that reducing cost or valuable information service. In this paper the authors discuss about to improve generation performance and operating ZigBee based wireless communication modules by generated electricity.