Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Background/objectives: Energy is highly essential for the life of living beings. As technologies are getting advanced, the consumption of energy increases continuously. Conventional sources available at earth are limited, and it will be going to drain day by day. Therefore, it is necessary to design models which are capable of harvesting energy using natural resources. The main objective of this paper is to summarise recent contributions in the area of energy harvesting (EH) and discuss their models with operating process, advantages, and limitations. Also these models are compared among themselves in terms of energy generation capacity. Methods/statistical analysis: Several models have been developed for EH by researchers all over the world. Here, an attempt is made to review the various models involved in EH to prevent the deficiency of energy. Findings: An EH technique is one of the most potential methods to encounter the energy deficiency problem. This study describes few models dedicated to EH and focuses on the major issues such as the necessity of highly efficient electronic circuits for capturing, accumulating, and storing even small electrical energy. Also the harvester circuit must stay in the active mode and be ready to perform energy capturing whenever harvestable energy becomes available. Nowadays, several sources (non-conservative) are used for EH such as warmth of human body. In future, the main focus is to enhance the efficiency of the energy harvester system. Improvements/application: Energy consumption is increasing day by day and its shortage is already predicted in the near future. Therefore, techniques for the generation of uninterrupted power provide for the incessant operation of any device to make life easier. 
Keywords: Energy Harvesting, Thermo-generator, Classical Energy Harvesting Model, Generic Sensor Network Node, Energy Harvesting Using Super Capacitor