The transformation of vibrations into electric energy through the use of piezoelectric devices is an exciting and rapidly developing area of research with a widening range of applications constantly materialising. With Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting, world-leading researchers provide a timely and comprehensive coverage of the electromechanical modelling and applications of piezoelectric energy harvesters. They present principal modelling approaches, synthesizing fundamental material related to mechanical, aerospace, civil, electrical and materials engineering disciplines for vibration-based energy harvesting using piezoelectric transduction. Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting provides the first comprehensive treatment of distributed-parameter electromechanical modelling for piezoelectric energy harvesting with extensive case studies including experimental validations, and is the first book to address modelling of various forms of excitation in piezoelectric energy harvesting, ranging from airflow excitation to moving loads, thus ensuring its relevance to engineers in fields as disparate as aerospace engineering and civil engineering. Coverage includes: Analytical and approximate analytical distributed-parameter electromechanical models with illustrative theoretical case studies as well as extensive experimental validations Several problems of piezoelectric energy harvesting ranging from simple harmonic excitation to random vibrations Details of introducing and modelling piezoelectric coupling for various problems Modelling and exploiting nonlinear dynamics for performance enhancement, supported with experimental verifications Applications ranging from moving load excitation of slender bridges to airflow excitation of aeroelastic sections A review of standard nonlinear energy harvesting circuits with modelling aspects.

With contributions from an internationally-renowned group of experts, this book uses a multidisciplinary approach to review recent developments in the field of smart sensor systems, covering important system and design aspects. It examines topics over the whole range of sensor technology from the theory and constraints of basic elements, physics and electronics, up to the level of application-orientated issues. Developed as a complementary volume to ‘Smart Sensor Systems’ (Wiley 2008), which introduces the basics of smart sensor systems, this volume focuses on emerging sensing technologies and applications, including: State-of-the-art techniques for designing smart sensors and smart sensor systems, including measurement techniques at system level, such as dynamic error correction, calibration, self-calibration and trimming. Circuit design for sensor systems, such as the design of precision instrumentation amplifiers. Impedance sensors, and the associated measurement techniques and electronics, that measure electrical characteristics to derive physical and biomedical parameters, such as blood viscosity or growth of micro-organisms. Complete sensor systems-on-a-chip, such as CMOS optical imagers and microarrays for DNA detection, and the associated circuit and micro-fabrication techniques. Vibratory gyroscopes and the associated electronics, employing mechanical and electrical signal amplification to enable low-power angular-rate sensing. Implantable smart sensors for neural interfacing in bio-medical applications. Smart combinations of energy harvesters and energy-storage devices for autonomous wireless sensors. Smart Sensor Systems: Emerging Technologies and Applications will greatly benefit final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students in the areas of electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering, and physics. Professional engineers and researchers in the microelectronics industry, including microsystem developers, will also find this a thorough and useful volume.

The vast reduction in size and power consumption of CMOS circuitry has led to a large research effort based around the vision of wireless sensor networks. The proposed networks will be comprised of thousands of small wireless nodes that operate in a multi-hop fashion, replacing long transmission distances with many low power, low cost wireless devices. The result will be the creation of an intelligent environment responding to its inhabitants and ambient conditions. Wireless devices currently being designed and built for use in such environments typically run on batteries. However, as the networks increase in number and the devices decrease in size, the replacement of depleted batteries will not be practical. The cost of replacing batteries in a few devices that make up a small network about once per year is modest. However, the cost of replacing thousands of devices in a single building annually, some of which are in areas difficult to access, is simply not practical. Another approach would be to use a battery that is large enough to last the entire lifetime of the wireless sensor device. However, a battery large enough to last the lifetime of the device would dominate the overall system size and cost, and thus is not very attractive. Alternative methods of powering the devices that will make up the wireless networks are desperately needed.

This book presents device design, layout design, FEM analysis, device fabrication, and packaging and testing of MEMS-based piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters. It serves as a complete guide from design, FEM, and fabrication to characterization. Each chapter of this volume illustrates key insight technologies through images. The book showcases different technologies for energy harvesting and the importance of energy harvesting in wireless sensor networks. The design, simulation, and comparison of three types of structures – single beam cantilever structure, cantilever array structure, and guided beam structure have also been reported in one of the chapters. In this volume, an elaborate characterization of two-beam and four-beam fabricated devices has been carried out. This characterization includes structural, material, morphological, topological, dynamic, and electrical characterization of the device. The volume is very concise, easy to understand, and contains colored images to understand the details of each process.

Micro/Nano-robotics for Biomedical Applications features a system approach and incorporates modern methodologies in autonomous mobile robots for programmable and controllable micro/nano-robots aiming at biomedical applications. The book provides chapters of instructional materials in micro/nanorobotics for biomedical applications. The book features lecture units on micro/nanorobot components and techniques, including sensors, actuator, power supply, and micro/nano-fabrication and assembly. It also contains case studies on using micro/nano-robots in biomedical environments and in biomedicine, as well as a design example to conceptually develop a Vitamin-pill sized robot to enter human’s gastrointestinal tract. Laboratory modules to teach robot navigation and cooperation methods suitable to biomedical applications will be also provided based on existing simulation and robot platforms.

Provides unique coverage of wireless sensor system applications in space, underwater, underground, and extreme industrial environments in one volume This book covers the challenging aspects of wireless sensor systems and the problems and conditions encountered when applying them in outer space, under the water, below the ground, and in extreme industrial environments. It explores the unique aspects of designs and solutions that address those problems and challenges, and illuminates the connections, similarities, and differences between the challenges and solutions in those various environments. The creation of Wireless Sensor Systems for Extreme Environments is a response to the spread of wireless sensor technology into fields of health, safety, manufacturing, space, environmental, smart cities, advanced robotics, surveillance, and agriculture. It is the first of its kind to present, in a single reference, the unique aspects of wireless sensor system design, development, and deployment in such extreme environments—and to explore the similarities and possible synergies between them. The application of wireless sensor systems in these varied environments has been lagging dramatically behind their application in more conventional environments, making this an especially relevant book for investigators and practitioners in all of these areas. Wireless Sensor Systems for Extreme Environments is presented in five parts that cover: Wireless Sensor Systems for Extreme Environments—Generic Solutions Space WSS Solutions and Applications Underwater and Submerged WSS Solutions Underground and Confined Environments WSS Solutions Industrial and Other WSS Solutions This book is a welcome guide for researchers, post-graduate students, engineers and scientists who design and build operational and environmental control systems, emergency response systems, and situational awareness systems for unconventional environments.

MEMS by becoming a part of various applications ranging from smartphones to automobiles has become an integral part of our everyday life. MEMS is building synergy between previously unrelated fields such as biology, microelectronics and communications, to improve the quality of human life. The sensors in MEMS gather information from the surrounding, which is then processed by the electronics for decision-making to control the environment. MEMS offers opportunities to miniaturize devices, integrate them with electronics and realize cost savings through batch fabrication. MEMS technology has enhanced many important applications in domains such as consumer electronics, biotechnology and communication and it holds great promise for continued contributions in the future. This book focuses on understanding the design, development and various applications of MEMS sensors.