Project: Printed Electronics applied to the manufacture of ThermoElectric Generators for Energy harvesting in wireless sensor networks
District heating is an effective and efficient way to provide space heating and warm tap water. In many processes, for example when electricity is generated or waste is burned, large parts of the energy are set free in the form of surplus heat. The fundamental idea behind modern district heating is to recycle this surplus heat which otherwise would be wasted- from electricity production, from fuel and biofuel-refining, and from different industrial processes. Furthermore, district heating can make use of the many kinds of renewables (biomass, geothermal, solar thermal)._x000D_An international study co-financed by the European Commission confirms the possibility of saving an extra 400 million tons of CO2 yearly (corresponding to 9.3% CO2 reduction – thus more than the whole Kyoto target!) with more District Heating and Cooling across 32 European countries. Today, district heating is available throughout the world: in Western and Eastern Europe, North America, and in Japan, Korea, China and Mongolia of the Asian countries. In Europe, there are over 5,000 district heating systems, and the market share of district heat is about 10% of the heating market. More than 50% of European District Heating market can be found in the Northern & Eastern part of Europe (Germany, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Romania)._x000D_Analogous to Power transmission and distribution, it is critical for district heating hot water supplies to constantly deliver heat to its customers. Therefore it is imperative that the district heating pipework is assessed and COtained. Additionally, the providers of district heating would like to be able to monitor in real time the demand for hot water. To facilitate regular COtenance, district heating pipes currently have inspection wells approximately every 150 metres. These inspection wells are ideal locations to position water sensors in the form of electrical conductivity sensors, humidity sensors and temperature sensors enabling measurement of water height temperature and flow rate. These parameters allow the analysis of any critical failures such as leaks and canfacilitate preventative COtenance to prevent catastrophic breaches of the pipework. In addition, the flow allows for the monitoring of demand in real time._x000D__x000D_However, existing sensor products employ GSM communication technology that are power hungry and are dependent upon battery power. Battery lifetime is notoriously unpredictable requiring regular expensive COtenance intervals into locations where there is regularly difficulty in access, increasing the operational and COtenance costs for district heating supply. Current Li ion battery technology utilised in this application have a lifetime of between 6-24 months._x000D_Energy harvesting offers a potential route for greatly extending the lifetime of a battery. Thermoelectric generators offer a suitable solution for energy harvesting in district heating where there is an abundance of low grade heat which could power a lower power scavenging device. However traditional thermoelectric generators are prohibitively expensive for this application and many more energy harvesting applications due the use of bulk Bismuth Telluride thermoelectric materials and the necessity to hand assemble thermoelectric couples within the thermoelectric generators. Bismuth Telluride is expensive at €80/ Kg _x000D_Therefore the PRESTEGE project will deliver a novel cost effective printed thermoelectric generator based on thin film technology and automated deposition and sintering of conductive interconnects of up to 900 thermoelectric couples. In addition, the project will apply technology transfer techniques to develop and apply low power wireless sensor network communications and low power electronics further extending the lifetime of the sensor operation. _x000D__x000D_Therefore the PRESTEGE project will develop a novel cost effective energy harvesting device based upon thin film printed thermoelectric generators and automated deposition and sintering of conductive interconnects of up to 900 couples that will harvest 3 mW / hour to recharge a lithium based battery increasing its lifetime to in excess of 10 years._x000D__x000D_The PRESTEGE project will capture 15 % of the district heating market share and open up new thermoelectric energy harvesting markets, creating XXXXX in sales and the creation of XXX jobs across the consortium.
|
Acronym
|
PRESTEGE
(Reference Number: 8619)
|
|
Duration
|
01/03/2014 - 31/03/2016
|
|
Project Topic
|
The development of a cost effective, innovative printing process for the manufacture of energy harvesting thermoelectric generators (TEGS). The TEGs produced will be integrated into an innovative energy efficient wireless sensor network for the monitoring of district heating pipes.
|
|
Network
|
Eurostars
|
|
Call
|
Eurostars Cut-Off 10
|
Project partner
