Adaptive plant and process monitoring using a twin matched thermoelectric energy harvester

This project will deliver an integrated, robust and autonomous platform able to be used for a variety of process sensing tasks in harsh and/or hazardous industrial environments. The system will be entirely self-powered from a thermoelectric generator and this will be the sole source of energy for a low power microprocessor-based data acquisition system that will measure process data on the pipework to which the system is attached. Additional data including the quantity of energy harvested and the internal operating condition of the system will be combined with the sensor data, time-stamped, and periodically sent as a burst of data via a wireless channel to a base station. The system will be modular in design, with each sensor having a unique identifier such that many sensors may be simultaneously deployed in a cluster, each able to act independently of any other. Advanced power conversion techniques will be employed to minimise the parasitic load imposed by the system.