Fairness-Aware Harvested Energy Efficiency Algorithm for IRS-Aided Intelligent Sensor Networks with SWIPT

In this paper,a novel fairness-aware harvested energy efficiency-based green transmission scheme for wireless information and power transfer(SWIPT)aided sensor networks is developed for active beamforming of multiantenna transmitter and passive beamforming at intelligent reflecting surfaces(IRS).By optimizing the active beamformer assignment at the transmitter in conjunction with the passive beamformer assignment at the IRS,we aimtomaximize the minimumharvested energy efficiency among all the energy receivers(ER)where information receivers(IR)are bound to the signal-interference-noise-ratio(SINR)and the maximum transmitted power of the transmitter.To handle the non-convex problem,both semi-definite relaxation(SDR)and block coordinate descent technologies are exploited.Then,the original problem is transformed into two convex sub-problems which can be solved via semidefinite programming.Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the IRS and energy beamformer settings in this paper provide greater system gain than the traditional experimental setting,thereby improving the fairness-aware harvested energy efficiency of the ER.

Design and performance testing of a novel building integrated photovoltaic thermal roofing panel

A novel building integrated photovoltaic thermal(BIPVT)roofing panel has been designed considering both solar energy harvesting efficiency and thermal performance.The thermal system reduces the operating temperature of the cells by means of a hydronic loop integrated into the backside of the panel,thus resulting in maintaining the efficiency of the solar panels at their feasible peak while also harvesting the generated heat for use in the building.The performance of the proposed system has been evaluated using physical experiments by conducting case studies to investigate the energy harvesting efficiency,thermal performance of the panel,and temperature differences of inlet/outlet working liquid with various liquid flow rates.The physical experiments have been simulated by coupling the finite element method(FEM)and finite volume method(FVM)for heat and mass transfer in the operation.Results show that the thermal system successfully reduced the surface temperature of the solar module from 88℃to as low as 55℃.Accordingly,the output power that has been decreased from 14.89 W to 10.69 W can be restored by 30.2%to achieve 13.92 W.On the other hand,the outlet water from this hydronic system reaches 45.4℃which can be used to partially heat domestic water use.Overall,this system provides a versatile framework for the design and optimization of the BIPVT systems.