If you are interested in figuring out how much energy is available to be harvested from various vibration signatures, wind levels, light irradiance levels, or human body motion, a new database might be just the thing. Called the Energy Harvesting Open Access Data Repository, it is designed to let researchers compare and evaluate their energy harvesting designs and analysis on a common dataset.
Online access to the data is hosted by something called the Energy Harvesting Network which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and managed by the University of Southampton in the UK.
The database provides a single structured facility for collating data from around the world. It doesn't host any of the data itself. All rights to the data are retained by the contributors; however, by making it available through this repository, they agree to make it available for unrestricted use (subject to referencing/acknowledging the contributors as specified).
The database is just getting started to data are a bit sparce at this point. But some of the data sets now on the site include that from an engine of a 1999 Ford Focus 1.6-liter, from a shock absorber casing, a tumble drier, boiler, and washing machine. These are all from the University of Southhampton.
To check out the database for yourself, visit: http://eh-network.org/data
