Piezoelectric energy harvesting system for volcanic seismic acquisition equipment

Abstract

–In this paper it is presented a volcanic seismic acquisition equipment that has been developed together with an energy harvesting system, based on piezoelectric elements, in order to work in autonomous conditions. The energy harvesting system has been developed to convert the wind or marine currents energy into electrical energy through a new method based on piezoelectrics. For the deployment of the volcanic seismic acquisition equipment in marine environments, this power generator produces energy obtained from harnessing of the kinetic energy of marine currents. The first results have shown that the system is capable to provide a small amount of energy that can be used to extend the deployment time of the volcanic seismic acquisition equipment.