High-performance and non-contact energy harvesters from high-voltage power lines magnetic fields

Abstract

In this paper, high-performance and non-contact energy harvesters from the magnetic fields of high-voltage power lines are presented. The energy harvesters are based on a rod ferrite core in the middle of the coil and two $⊐$-shaped ferrite cores at both ends of the rod ferrite core. The use of two $⊐$-shaped ferrite cores can provide several times improvement in power. Exposing these cores to magnetic flux increases the magnetic flux guiding efficiency and increases the energy harvesting rate. Here, by connecting a voltage rectifier circuit, we design a portable power supply based on energy harvesting from magnetic fields, which can provide the power consumption needs of some low-power circuits. The results of the capacitor charging ability, the open-circuit voltage across the harvesters, and the output power are measured to evaluate the performance of the proposed structures. The results show that the structures exhibit acceptable performance for practical requirements. Based on the results, a maximum open-circuit voltage of 13.619 V and an output power of 4.449 mW under a magnetic field of 7 $\mu$T are achieved for the best proposed structure. Considering that the proposed energy harvesting structures are non-contact and low-cost, therefore, they can be used to provide power for some low-power wireless monitoring sensors in high-voltage power transmission systems.