Maximizing the Performance of Electric-Field Energy Harvesters for Self-Powered Image Monitoring on Transmission Lines

As a promising power supply for distributed sensors in smart grids, the practical application of electric-field energy harvesters (EFEHs) is hindered by insufficient output power. This article presents a universal strategy for maximizing the performance of EFEH and a system-level solution for self-powered sensors based on EFEH. First, by analyzing the working mechanism and equivalent models, the output characteristics and theoretical output power upper limit of EFEH are elaborated. Subsequently, a highly efficient power management strategy for boosting the output power by maximizing the output energy per cycle was proposed and experimentally verified. The EFEH prototype achieves an exceptional average output power of 1.61 W, a power density of 5.12 W/m2, and a harvesting ability of 5867 μW/μA under a 110 kV transmission line, significantly outperforming previous records by 8.6 times. Finally, a wireless image monitoring system powered by the proposed high-performance EFEH is developed, enabling autonomous image monitoring of power equipment. This work provides guidance for designing a high-performance EFEH power source and demonstrates its potential for powering sensor networks in power systems.