Microgenerator-supercap system powers first wireless sensor network
Perpetuum (Southampton, UK) and CAP-XX Limited (Sydney, Australia) have collaborated to deliver what they say is the world’s first energy harvesting-and-supercapacitor system for powering large wireless sensor networks. In a paper presented today at the Darnell Group’s nanoPower Forum, CAP-XX’s Pierre Mars reported on the results of field trials at the Nyhamna gas plant in Norway to evaluate the system, which uses Perpetuum’s PMG17 vibration energy-harvesting microgenerator and CAP-XX’s supercapacitors.
So-called “condition monitoring” solutions traditionally depend on engineering personnel for manual data collection, or the use of battery-powered remote wireless sensors. The limited lifespan of the larger battery-powered systems in harsh environments, and the cost of replacing and disposing of old batteries, work against their use. “The microgenerator and supercapacitor combination eliminates battery reliability issues and time-consuming maintenance, while enabling significant savings in operational costs and energy use,” said Stephen Roberts, technical manager for Perpetuum. “Wireless system manufacturers can now easily design battery-free systems using this ‘fit and forget’ self-generating power source,” said Mars.
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