High-Temperature UHF RFID Sensor Measurements in a Full-Metal Environment

Nowadays UHF RFID systems are used in several sensor applications. We present an RFID system that is used in switchgears to monitor the temperature of the contact points of copper busbars. The switchgear is equipped with an RFID reader and several RFID tags. Each tag is build up by an RFID chip, an internal microcontroller and a temperature sensor. This system is designed to withstand and measure temperatures up to 170 C. The paper presents the design of the RFID sensor tag and some insights of the HF path in a full metal enclosure.