Han Yingzhou, Cao Yalu, Zhao Jingjing, Yin Yajiang, Ye Liangchen, Wang Xiaofeng, You Zheng
Collaborative Innovation Center for Micro/Nano Fabrication, Device and System, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2016 Sep 15;16(9):1502. doi: 10.3390/s16091502.
Biomechanical energy harvesting is a feasible solution for powering wearable sensors by directly driving electronics or acting as wearable self-powered sensors. A wearable insole that not only can harvest energy from foot pressure during walking but also can serve as a self-powered human motion recognition sensor is reported. The insole is designed as a sandwich structure consisting of two wavy silica gel film separated by a flexible piezoelectric foil stave, which has higher performance compared with conventional piezoelectric harvesters with cantilever structure. The energy harvesting insole is capable of driving some common electronics by scavenging energy from human walking. Moreover, it can be used to recognize human motion as the waveforms it generates change when people are in different locomotion modes. It is demonstrated that different types of human motion such as walking and running are clearly classified by the insole without any external power source. This work not only expands the applications of piezoelectric energy harvesters for wearable power supplies and self-powered sensors, but also provides possible approaches for wearable self-powered human motion monitoring that is of great importance in many fields such as rehabilitation and sports science.
生物机械能采集是一种为可穿戴传感器供电的可行解决方案，它可以直接驱动电子设备，或作为可穿戴自供电传感器。本文报道了一种可穿戴鞋垫，它不仅能在行走过程中从足部压力中采集能量，还能作为自供电人体运动识别传感器。该鞋垫设计为夹心结构，由两片波浪形硅胶薄膜和一层柔性压电箔片隔开，与传统的悬臂结构压电采集器相比，具有更高的性能。这种能量采集鞋垫能够通过从人体行走中获取能量来驱动一些常见的电子设备。此外，当人们处于不同的运动模式时，由于它产生的波形会发生变化，因此可用于识别人体运动。结果表明，在没有任何外部电源的情况下，该鞋垫能够清晰地对不同类型的人体运动（如行走和跑步）进行分类。这项工作不仅扩展了压电能量采集器在可穿戴电源和自供电传感器方面的应用，还为可穿戴自供电人体运动监测提供了可能的方法，这在康复和运动科学等许多领域都具有重要意义。
