“Photovoltaic, Thermoelectric, Piezoelectric, Magnetic induction Energy scavenger
Long lasting power is the greatest barrier to large scale use of information gathering sensor networks. Powering these devices from batteries drastically increases their installation and maintenance costs.
Solution lies in giving them ability to scavenge energy already present in the environment. Devices would be able to operate 10 to 20 years without any maintenance and it would drastically increase shelf life since they won’t require pre-charged batteries.
The goal of this project is to make universal bed around which custom wireless sensing devices can be built. Solution will be highly user customizable and easy for installation, saving on biggest cost in supply chain - human labor.
PTPM energy scavenger is designed as platform that can be easily adapted to vast range of environmental sensing applications. Heart of the platform is energy scavenging module that can harvest energy from photovoltaic, thermoelectric, piezoelectric and magnetic induction sources.”