A near-zero energy system based on a kinetic energy harvester for smart ranch

Smart ranch relying on sensor systems to realize monitoring of animals and the environment has emerged with the promotion of the Internet of Things (IoT). This paper proposes a near-zero energy system (NZES) based on a kinetic energy harvester (KEH) for smart ranch. The KEH is based on motion enhancement mechanism (MEM) for kinetic energy recovery from animal movement to realize self-powered applications of smart ranch. The MEM realizes the input and enhancement of weak kinetic energy based on bistable inertial swing. The KEH is analyzed theoretically and experimentally based on cattle leg movement. Under weak excitation (low-frequency and amplitude swing), the maximum voltage growth rate of the KEH based on the MEM reaches 103.7% compared with the linear KEH. The results of application feasibility tests, dressing field experiments, and application outlook show that the KEH has the potential to realize self-powered applications in the NZES of smart ranch.