LAUSR

Abstract Autonomous sensors (AS) became a suitable alternative to the constant monitoring of mechanical systems, preventing unexpected failure of the components and resulting in significant savings in maintenance costs and time. Regarding railroad transportation, these autonomous sensors can provide useful information of the freight cars’ conditions, preventing damage and even derailments. However, many freight cars equipped with pneumatic control valves do not have an electric power source to keep the AS running. Energy harvesting (EH) appears to be a viable alternative to powering the AS by converting the vibration energy naturally present in the freight cars into electricity by means of piezoelectrics. This study searched for and found an optimized configuration of a piezoelectric multi-beam structure adequate for freight cars’ vibrational frequencies, resulting in an output power of 13 mW, which is enough to power a conventional vertical accelerometer.