1. Field
The following description relates to a piezoelectric energy harvester and a wireless switch including the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a lighting device is turned on or off by using a switch. Since the switch is required to be situated in a position reachable by a user, the switch is generally positioned on a wall of a building. Therefore, a power line applied to the switch is formed inside of the wall of the building.
When the user turns on or off the lighting device, the user moves so as to be directly proximate to the wall on which the switch is formed and manually manipulates the switch to turn on or off the lighting device. However, this scheme is inconvenient in terms of the need for direct manual manipulation and direct proximity to a wall on which a switch is formed. For example, it may be difficult for a user to identify surroundings after the lighting device is turned off at night, causing inconvenience in manipulation of the switch because it is difficult to determine how to be in proximity with the switch located on the wall.
Therefore, a wireless switch device is a potential solution that would be helpful in order to solve the inconvenience of the manual manipulation described above and to allow for user convenience in turning lighting devices on and off.
For example, a user manipulates a transmitting unit of a remote control device, or a similar device for controlling a device such as a lighting device remotely, where the device is a wireless switch device. Accordingly, a lighting device control signal is wirelessly transmitted from the remote control device, and a receiving unit provided in the wall receives the wireless signal to turn on or off the lighting device.
Since a battery, or another energy source, is embedded in the transmitting unit of the remote control device in one approach, the battery must be periodically replaced in such an approach, which is inconvenient.