Industrial Energy Harvesting
While Muenstermann of Honeywell Process Solutions guesses that 80% of wireless installations do not require off-the-grid power sources such as batteries, truly untethered sensors are the wave of the future. And so it was gratifying to see Perpetuum displaying its PMG17 vibration energy harvester, which promises to generate useful energy from from levels of vibration that are 35% lower than previously possible. In size, Perpetuum’s device is somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball. The company makes provisions for continued operation during power outages (that is, when vibration ceases). Sensicast, too, had vibration energy harvesters (looking much like Perpetuum’s) on display in its booth, thanks to a working relationship with Ferro Solutions. “Sensicast is excited about continuing to work with Ferro on powerful, joint energy solutions,” says Patrick Rafter of Sensicast.
Interestingly, Ferro also makes hybrid sensors that combine piezoelectric and magnetic materials “to deliver sensitivity approaching that of SQUID magnetometers, but with much lower power consumption and in a much smaller package,” the company notes.
The complete story here.
