Release
Perpetuum and CAP-XX Team on Battery-Free
Wireless Condition Monitoring
Vibration energy harvester & supercapacitor solution, case study presented at nanoPower forum
Sydney, Australia – June 2, 2008 –
Darnell nanoPower Forum - On June 3, engineers
from Perpetuum and CAP-XX Limited (LSE:CPX) will describe how Perpetuum's PMG17 vibration energy-harvesting micro-generator, together with a
CAP-XX supercapacitor, allow wireless sensor system
manufacturers to design battery-free condition monitoring systems that collect and report data on machinery
for improved asset management. They will also present the results of a field trial at the Nyhamna gas plant in
Norway to evaluate the system in a challenging industrial environment.
Plants and refineries monitor pumps, machines and processes to ensure optimum safety, up-time and efficiency.
Condition monitoring solutions have traditionally involved maintenance engineers walking around to
collect data, or the use of battery-powered wireless sensors. Engineers' time is valuable, and batteries may
survive only two to five years in such harsh environments, so in plants with thousands of battery-powered
wireless sensor nodes, the cost of replacing and disposing of batteries is also significant.
Supercapacitor complements micro-generator to power battery-free wireless sensor networks:
The PMG17 microgenerator converts unused mechanical vibration into useable electrical energy.
After being stored in a CAP-XX supercapacitor, this energy can power wireless sensor nodes indefinitely.
The supercapacitor stores the energy harvested by the PMG17 micro-generator (a low but steady source of
between 0.5mW and 50mW) and then delivers the peak power needed to transmit sensor condition data over
wireless networks such as IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee) and 802.11 (WLAN). The output of the micro-generator can
easily cover the power needs of intermittent radio sensor systems such as Wireless HART, SP-100 and Wi-Fi
in industrial applications, but its output impedance is too high to supply the 10s to 100s of milliwatts required
by sensor nodes during data collection and transmission. The high capacitance and low equivalent series
resistance (ESR) of the supercapacitor provides approximately one second of peak power to transmit data.
"The micro-generator and supercapacitor combination eliminates battery reliability issues and time-consuming
maintenance, while enabling significant savings in operational costs and energy use," said Dr. Stephen
Roberts, technical manager for Perpetuum.
CAP-XX vice president of applications engineering, Pierre Mars, will present the collaborative paper
which was co-authored by Perpetuum senior engineer, John Parker, at the Darnell
nanoPower forum,
June 2 - 4 in Irvine, California.
Mars commented, "Wireless system manufacturers can now easily design battery-free systems using
this 'fit and forget' self-generating power source."
The Nyhamna gas plant in Norway used the PMG17 and CAP-XX supercapacitors to power wireless sensor
nodes in its network during a field trial, which is now operational. Operating faultlessly despite a wide range
of temperatures, the sensors monitored the condition of rotating equipment, the main culprit in production
shutdowns, reporting temperature and overall vibration every five minutes.
For more on the trial:
http://www.cairnstone.co.uk/PDF%20Files/Norwegian_Technology_01.pdf
An application note to aid engineers designing self-powered wireless condition monitoring systems is
available for download from Perpetuum.
About CAP-XX:
CAP-XX Ltd. is a world leader in the design and manufacture of thin, flat supercapacitors and power
architectures for portable electronic devices. Supercapacitors resolve the performance limitations of
batteries and other current-limited energy sources, bridging the gap between the peak power demanded
by the device and that available from the source.
CAP-XX supercapacitors enable manufacturers to make smaller, thinner, longer-running and more feature-rich
portables such as cell phones, PDAs, location trackers and medical devices. The company, listed on the
Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London, is based in Sydney, Australia, has additional production facilities
in Malaysia, and sales offices in the UK and USA. For more information, visit
http://www.cap-xx.com or email sales@cap-xx.com.
About Perpetuum:
UK-based Perpetuum is the world leader in vibration energy harvesting, producing the first
commercially available vibration energy harvester for industry, the PMG17.
Using normal vibration created by machinery as a source of energy, the PMG17 is an enabling
technology for fast growing wireless sensor node applications.
Perpetuum's innovative power source enables continuous online monitoring for proactive asset management,
helping organisations strive towards operational excellence.
For more information, visit
http://www.perpetuum.co.uk or email
info@perpetuum.com.
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Note: Photographs are available from the Photo Gallery:
http://www.cap-xx.com/news/photogallery.htm#Devices
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