With the prevalence of Mine Internet of Things (MIoT), different types of sensors have been widely
deployed in mine sites for environmental monitoring and operational management. Currently,
sensors in mine sites are mainly powered by cables or batteries. However, the deployment and
maintenance of a power supply network can be difficult and expensive, and batteries have a limited
lifespan. The vibration energy harvesting (VEH) technology can be used to provide power for lowpower
sensors in mine sites. This presentation briefly introduces three widely used VEH methods
(ie piezoelectric, electromagnetic, and electrostatic). The performance of a commercial
electromagnetic energy harvester (ReVibe model D) is evaluated based on the vibration of a lab
vibrator (3 g, 50 Hz) and an idling SUV automobile (0.3 g, 25 Hz). Experimental results indicate that
a ReVibe energy harvester can generate adequate electricity to power a sensor, and its power output
depends on the load resistance as well as the vibration frequency and amplitude of vibration sources.
To apply VEH to mining applications, this study also analyses the characteristics of vibration sources
at the mine site based on the vibration data collected from various operating machines in a coal
handling and preparation plant (CHPP). The vibration analysis results indicate that all the measured
vibration sources in the CHPP can generate stable and abundant vibrations, characterised by
substantial amplitudes (up to 5.55 g) and low dominant frequencies (ranging from 14 Hz to 25 Hz),
which are sufficient for VEH.