A Self-Powered, Threshold-Based Wireless Sensor for the Detection of Floor Vibrations

Smart buildings will soon be a reality due to innovative Internet of Things (IoT) applications. IoT applications can be employed not only for energy management in a building, but also for solving emerging social issues, such as inter-floor noise-related disputes in apartments and the solitary death of an elderly person. For example, acceleration sensors can be used to detect abnormal floor vibrations, such as large vibrations due to jumping children or unusual vibrations in a house where an elderly person is living alone. However, the installation of a conventional accelerometer can be restricted because of the sense of privacy invasion. In this study, a self-powered wireless sensor using a threshold-based method is studied for the detection of floor vibrations. Vibration levels of a bare slab in a testbed are first measured when a slab is impacted by a bang machine and an impact ball. Second, a piezoelectric energy harvester using slab vibration is manufactured to generate electrical power over a threshold. Next, the correlation among harvested energy, floor vibration, and impact noise is studied to check whether harvested energy can be employed as a condition detection threshold. Finally, a prototype of a self-powered wireless sensor to detect abnormal conditions in floor vibrations is developed and its applicability is demonstrated.