Thermoelectric Generators (TEG) for the Powering of Energy-Hungry LoRaWAN-Based Sensor Nodes in Industrial Applications

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the practical application of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) in low-power, energy-hungry wireless sensor systems, with the aim of providing complete energy self-sufficiency to these devices. To this end, an energy-hungry particulate matter (PM) sensor was integrated into a Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN)based sensor node, and tested to evaluate the efficacy of the energy harvesting solution. Energy management was facilitated through the use of a low voltage power management integrated circuit (IC), which regulated both the power extraction from the TEGs and the charging process of a Li-Ion battery that powered the whole system. The architecture of the low-power wireless sensing system, integrating an energy-hungry PM sensor is presented, along with a theoretical analysis of its power consumption and the energy requirements for the implementation of effective energy harvesting using TEGs. The final objective of the work is the optimization of the sensor node life time, balancing the frequency of the achievable sensors samplings and data transmissions with the temperature gradient between the TEG faces. The low voltage power manager IC plays a crucial role in ensuring efficient power extraction and regulation, thereby contributing to optimal performance of the system.