Ultralow-power Circuit Techniques for Applications with Microscale Energy
あらゆるモノにセンサを取り付けインターネットに 接続することにより新たな価値を創出する IoT (Internet of things)社会の実現に向けて,様々な技術レ イヤーの研究開発が盛んに行われている.IoT技術の 今後の問題の一つに,モノをインターネットに接続す るための近距離無線センサ端末の電源問題がある.電 池駆動のセンサ端末は電池交換が必要となるからで ある.端末の電源問題を解決する一つの手法として, 我々の身の回りに微小ながら常に存在する熱,光,振 動といったアンビエントエネルギー源を活用するマイ クロ環境発電技術が注目されている [1]. 発電電力がミリワット級の環境発電応用としては, 照明用スイッチに電磁誘導型の発電素子を組込み,無 線で照明の ON/OFF制御を行う無線スイッチ [2]や, 列車の車軸に振動発電素子を組込み,無線で車軸のベ アリングを監視するモニタリングシステム [3] が,既 に実用化されている.我々は,人間の尿で発電する尿
A self-powered photosensor switch detects only rising edge of infrared-light pulse for wireless zero-standby-power wake-up receiver
A self-powered photosensor switch that detects only the rising edge of an infrared (IR) pulse has been developed to reduce the standby current of battery-operated wireless devices with an IR remote controller and to enable removal of the external on/off switch. It consists of a VDD-rising-edge detector, an external-noise current canceller, and an IR LED energy harvester. The detector is powered by the energy harvester and detects a steep rising edge in the supply voltage. The power dissipation of the detector is kept at the picowatt level so that the detector operates only when the supply voltage passes through the sub-Vth region. The external-noise current canceller subtracts the offset current due to environmental noise. It uses a diode-connected low-Vth MOSFET to reduce the supply voltage to less than the operating voltage of the detector, and it keeps the supply voltage constant at a value determined by the constant current source of a low-Vth MOSFET in which the gate is replaced with a hold capacitor,. The photosensor switch makes possible the self-powered detection of IR light signals from a remote controller, even in the presence of environmental noise. To verify its effectiveness, a wake-up receiver containing the photosensor switch was fabricated and tested on a battery-operated wireless device. A commercial IR remote controller was able to wake the device up at a distance of 6 meters, and the standby current of the power-on controller was found to be 0.5 nA. The power dissipation of the photosensor switch was 40 pW.
Diagnostic and therapeutic studies on chronic diarrhea in dairy animals
The study was conducted to determine the etiology of chronic diarrhea in dairy animals. Seven causes of chronic diarrhea were established in dairy cattle and buffaloes. Balantidiasis in 37.6 per cent, dietary diarrhea in 9.9 per cent, chronic salmonellosis in 6.9 per cent cases of chronic diarrhea, secondary copper deficiency and amphistomiasis in 6.9 per cent, clinical Johne‘s disease in 3.9 per cent and chronic peritonitis in 2.97 per cent of dairy animals, manifest chronic diarrhea. The precise diagnosis could not be established in 24.50 per cent of animals. Lymphosarcoma was confirmed in one of the dairy cattle. Body condition score was associated to the etiology of chronic diarrhea. B. coli infected cattle and buffalo revealed cysts in 32.3 per cent cases while 5 per cent positive cases revealed both cysts and trophozoites. Mean cyst count was 2.73±0.91 hpf in diarrheic animals compared to 0.11±0.447 hpf in healthy animals. Clinical Johne‘s disease was confirmed in four animals. Hematological changes revealed anemia and neutrophilia with morphological changes suggestive of regenerative to degenerative left shift. High plasma phosphorus, hypoproteinaemia and hypoalbuminaemia was seen in clinical Johne‘s disease. Salmonella isolates showed higher in-vitro sensitivity to enrofloxacin (87%), ciprofloxacin (87%), gentamicin (75%), and tetracycline (66.7 %) and were resistant to ampicillin and amoxicillin. Mean cyst count reduction from 2.41±1.16 to 0.11±.33 was observed in oral metronidazole treated group where as reduction of mean cyst count from 2.73±0.918 to 0.18±0.44 in intravenous metronidazole treated group. Recovery rate with oral and intravenous metronidazole was 42.1 and 63.1 per cent respectively. Recovery results in significant decrease in eiosionphil count and increase in total plasma protein in both oral and intravenous treatment groups. Complete recovery response approaches 60 per cent in balantidiasis affected adult dairy animals. Balantidiasis was the major cause of chronic diarrhea and intravenous administration of metronidazole was more effective than oral metronidazole.