Energy Harvesting from Fluid Flow in Water Pipelines for Smart Metering Applications

In this paper a rotational, radial-flux energy harvester incorporating a three-phase generation principle is presented for converting energy from water flow in domestic water pipelines. The energy harvester together with a power management circuit and energy storage is used to power a smart metering...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. Conference series 2013-01, Vol.476 (1), p.12104-5
Main Authors: Hoffmann, D, Willmann, A, Göpfert, R, Becker, P, Folkmer, B, Manoli, Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Circuit design
Design optimization
Energy
Energy harvesting
Energy storage
Flow rate
Flow velocity
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Housing
Impellers
Magnetic circuits
Metering
Meters
Minimum flow
Physics
Power management
Power supplies
Standard components
Underground storage
Water flow
Water pipelines
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Summary:In this paper a rotational, radial-flux energy harvester incorporating a three-phase generation principle is presented for converting energy from water flow in domestic water pipelines. The energy harvester together with a power management circuit and energy storage is used to power a smart metering system installed underground making it independent from external power supplies or depleting batteries. The design of the radial-flux energy harvester is adapted to the housing of a conventional mechanical water flow meter enabling the use of standard components such as housing and impeller. The energy harvester is able to generate up to 720 mW when using a flow rate of 20 l/min (fully opened water tab). A minimum flow rate of 3 l/min is required to get the harvester started. In this case a power output of 2 mW is achievable. By further design optimization of the mechanical structure including the impeller and magnetic circuit the threshold flow rate can be further reduced.
ISSN:1742-6588
1742-6596
DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/476/1/012104