Towards airflow sensors with energy harvesting and wireless transmitting properties

The rapidly growing demand for even more detailed low-cost measurements of weather and environmental conditions, including wind flow, asks for self-sustained energy solutions that eliminate the need for external recharge or replacement of batteries. Today’s wind measurement market is limited to traditional anemometers, ultrasonic measurement or expensive LIDAR (Light Imaging, Detection and Ranging) systems. This paper presents the initial design considerations for a low-cost combined air speed and wind direction sensor, which harvests energy to drive it and to power the wireless transmission of system configurations and measurements. An energy-budget for this transmission is included.