October 27, 2006—Perpetuum, Ltd., announces the launch of its battery-free PMG17 microgenerator for vibration energy harvesting, which it claims is capable of generating useful energy from levels of vibration that are 35% lower than previously possible and across a large bandwidth of vibration frequencies.
OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), sensor manufacturers, and end-users, Perpetuum says, can benefit from using the generators to power easy-to-install devices that accurately monitor machinery and processes such as the condition of plant equipment. This allows them to make significant savings in installation time and cost, often without shutdowns, as well as achieving the operating benefits from increased monitoring and control, says the company.
The practical microgenerator is a proven energy source for low-power electronic systems such as wireless sensor nodes, according to the company. It converts kinetic energy from vibration of equipment running at mains frequency (50 or 60Hz) into electrical energy and can generate up to 100uW when attached to a surface exhibiting a minimum vibration magnitude of 16mg between 59Hz and 60Hz.
This is enough to power a wireless transmitter sending up to 6Kbytes of critical condition monitoring data every few minutes, or smaller amounts of data, such as temperature reading, several times a second.
The PMG17 is the “battery free” power behind many wireless sensor anodes. These nodes enable the continuous monitoring and control of plant machinery. Critical temperature and vibration information can now be analyzed and acted upon by operations staff. As a result, outages and unplanned machine downtime can be minimized.
The microgenerator is capable of operating in a multitude of industrial environments. Perpetuum says it is easy to install with no shut down of operations required. It can be attached in any orientation and needs no maintenance.
For more information visit the Perpetuum Web site.
