Electrostatic harvester for wind energy harvesting and wind speed remote sensing

In this paper, the electrostatic harvester for wind energy harvesting and wind speed remote sensing has been proposed and demonstrated. First, the operation of the harvester is explained in details. Second, the simulation modeling of the electrostatic converter is presented using Matlab /Simulink. Next, the prototype construction and testing is described. The electrostatic converter with a Li-Ion battery and an RF transmitter was used to test the capability of the system to harvest and sense wind. Results of the simulation proved successful operation of the converter during the pre-charge, harvest and the rest phases. Furthermore, the amount of harvested energy from wind was sufficient for a successful transmission of data in wireless manner using the RF transmitter.