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Engineer's Toolbox:
Energy harvesting comes to plumbing and HVAC

Nextreme Thermal Solutions, a leader in micro-scale thermal management and power generation solutions, has developed two new energy-harvesting subsystems for the plumbing and HVAC industries.

The subsystems are the latest additions to Nextreme's Thermobility energy-harvesting platform that uses thin-film thermoelectric technology to convert available thermal energy into electric power for a variety of autonomous self-powered applications.

Thermobility uses differences in temperature to enable power anywhere there is an adequate heat source, eliminating the need to use traditional, wired power sources or replaceable batteries. When paired with wireless transmitters, the Thermobility solution can provide electric power for years of maintenance-free operation, expanding the possibilities for new wireless sensor applications.

Why would you want that for, say, plumbing?

Well, water in plumbing fixtures provides an excellent source of thermal energy for a variety of "green plumbing" applications. Thermal energy from water supply lines under a sink and during flush-valve operations can be converted to electricity as a source of power for things like LED status indicators, hands-free faucets, soap dispenser solenoids, and wireless transmitters for data acquisition applications. Harvested power can help reduce the size of batteries or eliminate them entirely, depending on the application.

For those of you wondering about PVC instead of metal pipes, a Nextreme representative says, "We can still harvest heat from PVC piping, although its thermal resistance is higher than other materials such as steel, copper, and iron. The key is to maintain a Delta T across the thermoelectric. However, PVC will produce a lower-quality heat than the other materials, thus less thermal energy is available for conversion to electrical energy, which affects the overall power output (wattage)." In short, the device can work, to a limited degree, with non-metal piping.

Clamp-on subsystem for harvesting energy from dispensed hot water. Note: You can download this example and the next as a spec sheet here.

 

 

When we are looking at HVAC, this industry can employ Thermobility wireless power generators in applications for the sensing of temperature, humidity, and airflow in heating and cooling systems. Wireless Thermobility sensor subsystems can harvest thermal energy from the hot or cold temperature differences found in air plenums, which eliminates the need to provide wires to these devices.

In addition, these HVAC subsystems can store energy and provide on-demand power while reducing the total cost of ownership by eliminating the prohibitive cost of battery replacement. That's the idea, at least.

And Nextreme is full of ideas – and solutions.

"It's clear that we're heading in the direction of becoming a subsystem provider," says Bob Collins, vice president of Business Development at Nextreme. "We will continue to manufacture and market thin-film thermoelectric modules to our customers, however, we have found that when we're involved in developing systems with our customers, we can help them develop a higher-performing solution more rapidly and ultimately at a lower cost."

Besides plumbing and HVAC, Nextreme energy-harvesting devices are used in industrial control, transportation, automotive, and building management.

Want more information? Click below.

Source: Nextreme Thermal Solutions

Published February 2012

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