Seyoum Biruk B, Rossi Maurizio, Brunelli Davide
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Via Sommarive, 9, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Sensors (Basel). 2017 Sep 26;17(10):2211. doi: 10.3390/s17102211.
Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are now capable of powering the abundant low power electronics from very small (just a few degrees Celsius) temperature gradients. This factor along with the continuously lowering cost and size of TEGs, has contributed to the growing number of miniaturized battery-free sensor modules powered by TEGs. In this article, we present the design of an ambient-powered wireless bolt for high-end electro-mechanical systems. The bolt is equipped with a temperature sensor and a low power RF chip powered from a TEG. A DC-DC converter interfacing the TEG with the RF chip is used to step-up the low TEG voltage. The work includes the characterizations of different TEGs and DC-DC converters to determine the optimal design based on the amount of power that can be generated from a TEG under different loads and at temperature gradients typical of industrial environments. A prototype system was implemented and the power consumption of this system under different conditions was also measured. Results demonstrate that the power generated by the TEG at very low temperature gradients is sufficient to guarantee continuous wireless monitoring of the critical fasteners in critical systems such as avionics, motorsport and aerospace.
热电发电机（TEG）现在能够利用非常小的（仅几摄氏度）温度梯度为大量低功率电子设备供电。这一因素以及TEG成本和尺寸的不断降低，促使越来越多由TEG供电的小型化无电池传感器模块出现。在本文中，我们展示了一种用于高端机电系统的环境供电无线螺栓的设计。该螺栓配备了一个温度传感器和一个由TEG供电的低功率射频芯片。一个将TEG与射频芯片连接的DC-DC转换器用于提升TEG的低电压。这项工作包括对不同TEG和DC-DC转换器的特性进行表征，以便根据在不同负载和工业环境典型温度梯度下TEG能够产生的电量来确定最佳设计。实现了一个原型系统，并测量了该系统在不同条件下的功耗。结果表明，TEG在非常低的温度梯度下产生的电力足以保证对航空电子、赛车运动和航空航天等关键系统中的关键紧固件进行连续无线监测。
