| NSF Org: |
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | December 23, 2019 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 25, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 1916707 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Prakash Balan
pbalan@nsf.gov (703)292-5341 EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | December 15, 2019 |
| End Date: | November 30, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $300,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $380,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2021 = $100,000.00 FY 2022 = $180,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
201 OLD MAIN UNIVERSITY PARK PA US 16802-1503 (814)865-1372 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
PA US 16802-1503 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | IUCRC-Indust-Univ Coop Res Ctr |
| Primary Program Source: |
01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002223DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002223RB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Free, ambient energy is widely available in the environment and can be harnessed to power mobile devices. The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) site of the Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems (CEHMS) develops energy harvesting and storage technologies that can provide continuous power to a wide range of wireless devices, including machinery diagnostic equipment, environmental sensors, and health-monitoring wearables. Novel power management electronics are proposed that dynamically route power to the load and maintain battery charge. This site will invent new materials, structures, and systems that dramatically increase the harvested power and the ability to store energy efficiently, enabling a new generation of self-powered wireless devices with smaller footprints and more capabilities. The PSU CEHMS site will also investigate the scale up of energy producing devices and storage systems for renewable energy support in the grid and electric vehicles. The site will also participate in the organization of tutorial sessions for students, faculty, and industry members during the annual Energy Harvesting Workshop run by the Energy Harvesting Society based at the PSU Navy Yard. CEHMS includes a broad international program with universities, government labs and industries from Germany, South Korea, Canada, Taiwan, and India. PSU CEHMS faculty will supervise senior design projects on energy harvesting and involve undergraduate students in a variety of CEHMS activities.
The PSU CEHMS site has research thrusts in materials development, integration tools, and modeling to optimize the performance of energy harvesting technologies and systems. The research aims to increase the electromechanical coefficients of active materials, exploit specific phenomena to increase power density, improve the efficiency of rectifiers that transform translational motion into rotational motion and electric circuits for conversion, regulation, rectification, and storage. Research plans include the design of wireless battery management systems, multi-modal energy harvesting for wearables, and new battery and supercapacitor chemistries. Novel materials for energy storing batteries and supercapacitors will be discovered and experimentally tested. Models that predict the performance and degradation of energy storage and harvesting systems will increase understanding of these complex multiphysics problems. Model-based systems and control will provide robust and reliable performance of energy harvesting and storage systems. The addition of the Penn State Site will allow CEHMS to meet the intellectual challenges of developing hybrid power systems for a wide range of applications.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Global warming and environmental problems has compelled the search for renewable energy sources that use locally available heat, vibration, etc. to power small electronics or sensors for smart infrastructure and machines. Thus, transforming ambient energy to electric power has evolved into an applied research field attracting the interests of global industries because of tremendous growth potential. Commonly used wireless electronics consume mW in operation mode and nW in standby mode, thus, energy harvesting of few mW is an enabling technology for facilitating current generation electronics and in the design of new components such as self-powered systems where energy needs for common tasks (monitoring, computation, transmission, etc.) can be met through environmental energy sources. Design of new materials and development of technologies and systems that can harvest power and store it for on-demand use in one package has a broad range of applications. Thus, a grand view of energy generation together with energy storage research is very important and was the focus of our center.
During the project period, we worked closely with industry members and associated faculty to facilitate the development of these energy generation and storage solutions. Almost a dozen journal publications and two inventions were generated using the CEHMS funds. Also, a number of undergraduate/graduate students were trained in these cutting edge research topics. We also contributed in workforce development in the science and engineering field by training the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Last Modified: 04/21/2024
Modified by: Christopher D Rahn
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