A Feasibility Study on Energy Harvesting from Soil Temperature Differences

Pullwitt, Sven; Kulau, Ulf; Hartung, Robert; Wolf, Lars

doi:10.1145/3277883.3277886

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Thus, we are evaluating the current design of the energy harvester unit to figure out ways to improve its performance. We are also looking into the possibility of using a different structure, such as a buried heat sink, as was proposed in [20], and analysing each structure's thermal efficiency. We plan to benchmark different structures by emulating their performance for low-temperature gradients.…”

Section: Discussion and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Battery-Less Environment Sensor Using Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting from Soil-Ambient Air Temperature Differences

Puluckul

Weyn

2022

Sensors

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Energy harvesting is an effective technique for prolonging the lifetime of Internet of Things devices and Wireless Sensor Networks. In applications such as environmental sensing, which demands a deploy-and-forget architecture, energy harvesting is an unavoidable technology. Thermal energy is one of the most widely used sources for energy harvesting. A thermal energy harvester can convert a thermal gradient into electrical energy. Thus, the temperature difference between the soil and air could act as a vital source of energy for an environmental sensing device. In this paper, we present a proof-of-concept design of an environmental sensing node that harvests energy from soil temperature and uses the DASH7 communication protocol for connectivity. We evaluate the soil temperature and air temperature based on the data collected from two locations: one in Belgium and the other in Iceland. Using these datasets, we calculate the amount of energy that is producible from both of these sites. We further design power management and monitoring circuit and use a supercapacitor as the energy storage element, hence making it battery-less. Finally, we deploy the proof-of-concept prototype in the field and evaluate its performance. We demonstrate that the system can harvest, on average, 178.74 mJ and is enough to perform at least 5 DASH7 transmissions and 100 sensing tasks per day.

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Section: Discussion and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In [20], researchers evaluated soil energy harvesting based on the temperature difference data collected at different soil depths. They further simulated a target node model with thermal energy harvesting and showed that the target node can transmit packets from 7.5-40 packages per h.…”

Section: A Brief On Thermoelectric Generatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Battery-Less Environment Sensor Using Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting from Soil-Ambient Air Temperature Differences

Puluckul

Weyn

2022

Sensors

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“…The open circuit voltage of a thermoelectric element depends on the temperature difference (∆T) between a hot and a cold surface and also on material properties called Seebeck coefficients [14,15]. The authors in [16] verified that TEG is a suitable solution for powering energy harvesting nodes. TEG can be also used to extend the battery life of devices by generating power from waste heat [17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Environment-Monitoring IoT Devices Powered by a TEG Which Converts Thermal Flux between Air and Near-Surface Soil into Electrical Energy

Paterova

Prauzek

Konecny

et al. 2021

Sensors

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Energy harvesting has an essential role in the development of reliable devices for environmental wireless sensor networks (EWSN) in the Internet of Things (IoT), without considering the need to replace discharged batteries. Thermoelectric energy is a renewable energy source that can be exploited in order to efficiently charge a battery. The paper presents a simulation of an environment monitoring device powered by a thermoelectric generator (TEG) that harvests energy from the temperature difference between air and soil. The simulation represents a mathematical description of an EWSN, which consists of a sensor model powered by a DC/DC boost converter via a TEG and a load, which simulates data transmission, a control algorithm and data collection. The results section provides a detailed description of the harvested energy parameters and properties and their possibilities for use. The harvested energy allows supplying the load with an average power of 129.04 μW and maximum power of 752.27 μW. The first part of the results section examines the process of temperature differences and the daily amount of harvested energy. The second part of the results section provides a comprehensive analysis of various settings for the EWSN device’s operational period and sleep consumption. The study investigates the device’s number of operational cycles, quantity of energy used, discharge time, failures and overheads.

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“…There are several research studies on thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules that have been selected as energy harvesting sources for temperature monitoring applications in forests or conceptual environments of IoT networks. Pullwitt et al conducted a study with soil temperature monitoring for one year in Germany (consisting of four seasons) [28]. There were eight layers of depth readings taken during the day and night.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of temperature gradient between ambient air and soil to power up wireless sensor network device using a thermoelectric generator

2022

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A Feasibility Study on Energy Harvesting from Soil Temperature Differences

Cited by 17 publications

References 10 publications

Battery-Less Environment Sensor Using Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting from Soil-Ambient Air Temperature Differences

Battery-Less Environment Sensor Using Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting from Soil-Ambient Air Temperature Differences

Environment-Monitoring IoT Devices Powered by a TEG Which Converts Thermal Flux between Air and Near-Surface Soil into Electrical Energy

Investigation of temperature gradient between ambient air and soil to power up wireless sensor network device using a thermoelectric generator

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