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We are living in a smart world, where most of our devices are now smart and connected. We have moved on from smart phones and smart devices and are now seeing smart homes and even smart cities. No doubt, soon most of our industrial plants and factories will be smart too.
At the heart of the smart digital plant lies the sensor network that can collect detailed data on asset condition and performance and help improve asset health, reduce downtime, and increase profitability. Clearly, larger number of sensors are needed to reap the benefits of IIoT and make our plants smart. However, deploying more sensors poses the challenge of supplying power to these devices. Typically, batteries are used. While battery suppliers have significantly improved battery life, they still cannot last indefinitely. Although some models claim a life of up to 10 years, in reality, several factors can reduce battery life in a plant environment. If a plant has hundreds and thousands of wireless devices, this means hundreds or even thousands of man-hours will eventually be required to replace these batteries. This poses a significant hurdle in the road toward an Industrial IoT.
This is where energy-harvesting technologies can help. Energy harvesting captures energy from sources in the surrounding environment and stores it for use by wireless or electronic devices. Not only do devices using energy harvesting require less maintenance, they are often also easier to install. While many harvesting technologies are available, solar has been the most popular one. From powering calculators to satellites, solar harvesting is used for numerous applications. In Massachusetts, which is among the top 10 solar states in US, houses with solar panels are common sight.
In the industrial world, we have seen many applications using electromagnetic and thermoelectric harvesting. Electromagnetic energy harvesters utilize vibrations from industrial equipment to power wireless sensors networks. Whereas, thermal harvesters use temperature gradient between two dissimilar conductors to power sensor networks and field devices.
Thermoelectric harvesters can also utilize exhaust heat from engines, furnaces, and other sources of waste heat and convert it to useful energy without generating additional greenhouse gas emissions. However, so far the technology can achieve only around 5 percent efficiency in converting heat to electricity. Major factor limiting the efficiency of thermoelectric harvesters is the lack of suitable cost effective material that can work at high temperatures. Most recently, California Energy Commission’s Berkeley Lab has taken on this task of finding a suitable material for the application and creating a cost-effective thermoelectric waste heat recovery system.
The Berkley Lab has received around $2-million funding from Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program, which funds clean energy projects to reduce pollution, for this project. The lab is partnering with Alphabet Energy to create the thermoelectric heat recovery system to help generate energy without additional carbon emissions. According to the lab, such a system could save California 3.2 million megawatt-hours per year in energy while also increasing electrical reliability.
Clean energy projects such as EPIC are key to increase energy efficiency and reduce impact on climate change and create a sustainable energy future. In 2016, investors and governments around the world invested around $330 billion into clean energy projects. However, funding for such projects may decline drastically in US under the new administration.
At the heart of the smart digital plant lies the sensor network that can collect detailed data on asset condition and performance and help improve asset health, reduce downtime, and increase profitability. Clearly, larger number of sensors are needed to reap the benefits of IIoT and make our plants smart. However, deploying more sensors poses the challenge of supplying power to these devices. Typically, batteries are used. While battery suppliers have significantly improved battery life, they still cannot last indefinitely. Although some models claim a life of up to 10 years, in reality, several factors can reduce battery life in a plant environment. If a plant has hundreds and thousands of wireless devices, this means hundreds or even thousands of man-hours will eventually be required to replace these batteries. This poses a significant hurdle in the road toward an Industrial IoT.
This is where energy-harvesting technologies can help. Energy harvesting captures energy from sources in the surrounding environment and stores it for use by wireless or electronic devices. Not only do devices using energy harvesting require less maintenance, they are often also easier to install. While many harvesting technologies are available, solar has been the most popular one. From powering calculators to satellites, solar harvesting is used for numerous applications. In Massachusetts, which is among the top 10 solar states in US, houses with solar panels are common sight.
In the industrial world, we have seen many applications using electromagnetic and thermoelectric harvesting. Electromagnetic energy harvesters utilize vibrations from industrial equipment to power wireless sensors networks. Whereas, thermal harvesters use temperature gradient between two dissimilar conductors to power sensor networks and field devices. Thermoelectric harvesters can also utilize exhaust heat from engines, furnaces, and other sources of waste heat and convert it to useful energy without generating additional greenhouse gas emissions. However, so far the technology can achieve only around 5 percent efficiency in converting heat to electricity. Major factor limiting the efficiency of thermoelectric harvesters is the lack of suitable cost effective material that can work at high temperatures. Most recently, California Energy Commission’s Berkeley Lab has taken on this task of finding a suitable material for the application and creating a cost-effective thermoelectric waste heat recovery system.
The Berkley Lab has received around $2-million funding from Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program, which funds clean energy projects to reduce pollution, for this project. The lab is partnering with Alphabet Energy to create the thermoelectric heat recovery system to help generate energy without additional carbon emissions. According to the lab, such a system could save California 3.2 million megawatt-hours per year in energy while also increasing electrical reliability.
Clean energy projects such as EPIC are key to increase energy efficiency and reduce impact on climate change and create a sustainable energy future. In 2016, investors and governments around the world invested around $330 billion into clean energy projects. However, funding for such projects may decline drastically in US under the new administration.