Efficient light energy harvesters for indoor applications
Tutor/a - Director/a
Estudiant
Villaverde Cervantes, Martí
Tipus de document
Projecte Final de Màster Oficial
Data
2024
rights
Accés restringit per acord de confidencialitat
Editorial
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Titulacions
UPCommons
Resum
In the era of smart buildings, sensor integration has revolutionized security, welfare, and sustainability. Building intelligence and sustainability are obtained through self-powered sensors via energy collected from residual energy available in the same building. This energy is commonly obtained through light, thermal, or electromagnetic harvesting. The goal of ambient energy harvesting is to capture ambient energy to power Internet of Things (IoT) devices that operate on their own. This document is focused on optical energy harvesting through Indoor Photovoltaic (IPV) cells. These cells provide an eco-friendly way to capture energy within buildings. Although the IPV power densities are around 100 to 1000 times lower than in outdoor applications, the scale of IPV cells makes them a desirable option for low-power Internet of Things devices. There are three chapters in this thesis. The first chapter provides a characterization of commercial IPV cells under controlled laboratory conditions, subjected to different types of artificial light. The study concludes that while the a-Si cell, with around 7% efficiency and stable VMPP values, is suitable for a constant voltage method, the perovskite cell, performing better on a Fractional Open Circuit Voltage (FOCV), despite having better efficiency ranges, exhibits instability and unclear temperature behavior, making it less viable currently. The second chapter is a study of the amount of light (artificial, natural, and a combination of artificial and natural) in different rooms oriented to different positions. The study highlights the critical importance of device placement near windows to optimize energy collection from natural light, which can be up to 4.95 times more effective than artificial light alone over a working day. Finally, an experimental characterization in uncontrolled conditions of 4 different cells located in 2 different rooms during a period of weeks is carried out. The study concludes that monocrystalline cells exhibit superior performance in capturing solar energy, emphasizing the importance of unobstructed placement and vertical orientation for optimal power generation indoors.
