Public defence: Binh Duc Truong

Binh Duc Truong will defend his PhD degree. The dissertation is about energy harvesting to power wireless sensors where batteries are impractical.

31 Oct

Practical information

  • Date: 31 October 2024
  • Time: 15.30 - 19.30
  • Location: Online, Zoom
  • Download calendar file

    • Join Zoom Meeting

     

    Program 

    Kl 15.30. Trial lecture: Power transfer efficiency and impedance matching in energy harvesting systems.

    Kl 16.45. Public defence: «Approaching theoretical power bound for vibration energy harvesters under displacement-constrained»

    Assessment committee 

    • First opponent: Professor Elena Blokhina, University College Dublin
    • Second opponent: Professor Philipp Häfliger, University of Oslo
    • Administrator: Associate professor Avisek Roy, University of South-Eastern Norway

    Supervisors

    • Principal Supervisor: Professor Einar Halvorsen,  University of South-Eastern Norway
    • Co-supervisor:  Associate professor Cuong Phu Le, Norwegian University of Science and Technology


     

Any questions?

Binh Duc Truong is defending his thesis for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

The doctoral work has been carried out at the Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences in the program Applied microsystems and nanosystems.

You are invited to follow the trial lecture and the public defence.

Summary

The last decade has seen a rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), in which sensor networks are indispensable elements. However, most sensors are powered by batteries with limited energy capacities and often require regular recharge or replacement.

Energy harvesting has become one of the most promising alternatives for powering wireless sensors where batteries are impractical, such as implantable devices and inaccessible remote systems. 

Two primary objectives of the dissertation are to investigate the fundamental limitations of output power under displacement-constraint operation and various topologies of power electronics interfaces.

One important finding of the work is identifying optimal conditions that overcome the power saturation phenomenon and significantly increase the power output of MEMS harvesters when the proof mass motion is restricted.

We further explore the performance of electrostatic vibration energy harvesters with power electronic interfaces that configure them as Bennet's doubler.

This configuration can enable devices to initiate even with an inadequate initial bias, which holds remarkable value as it eases the burden on energy storage in the system.

Throughout the dissertation, analytical modeling and numerical simulations are employed to study the operation of energy harvesters and optimize their performance.