A human body powered sensory glove system based on multisource energy harvester

In this work we present and evaluate a multi-source power management system, based on human body energy harvesting, to extend the battery lasting of an electronic sensory glove, used to measure flexion/extension, abduction/adduction movements of fingers of the hand. The system exploits heat of the human forearm and pressure impressed by the foot heel during walking, so to gather additional energy. The aim is to allow hours of energy-autonomy for the user working with the sensory glove. Such a glove is equipped with a number of flex sensors which furnish data from finger movements, acquired and pre-processed by a microcontroller, and wireless sent to a Personal Computer for analysis, visualization and storage purposes. The multi-source harvester is based on vibrational and thermic sources. Prototype discrete element boards were designed and tested for the microelectronics integration. Measurement results demonstrate how the overall system extends the battery lasting time up to 20%.