Design of a Wireless Thermoelectrically-Powered Temperature Sensor for Industrial Electrochemical Systems

Electrical breakdowns are a frequent cause of downtime in industrial electrochemical facilities such as in electrochemical water treatment or electrowinning applications. These electrical breakdowns are often caused by the rising temperature of copper busbars exceeding rated values, which primarily occur at the connection junctions of these busbars. Early detection of electrical breakdowns offer reliability as well as economic benefits to industrial facilitates by limiting down time and improving overall plant safety and reliability. Available temperature monitoring solutions are costly, often requiring line-of-sight detection, usage of electric wires, and a backup battery pack. This paper proposes a self-powered temperature monitoring solution that can wirelessly communicate with a local server within the facility, while being powered solely from the waste heat generated by the conductor it monitors. This is accomplished by relying on a thermoelectric generator (TEG), and a dc/dc converter operating in "burst-mode" to supply sufficient power needed to transmit temperature data to the operator. The proposed system is simulated under different load conditions. Further experimental work is currently being developed, as part of future work.