Product category:
Wireless process sensors
News Release from: Perpetuum | Subject: PMG17 + Texas CC2420
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 24 August 2007
Texas RF transceiver powered by
vibration energy
The Texas Instruments RF transceiver and microcontroller, powered by a Perpetuum vibration energy-harvesting microgenerator can transmit high data loads over a wireless link, for condition monitoring
Perpetuum, the world leader in vibration energy-harvesting, announces its PMG17 vibration energy-harvesting microgenerator can readily be used to power the Texas Instruments CC2420 single chip RF transceiver and MSP430 16 bit ultra-low-power microcontroller As a result, sensor node manufacturers can now design battery-free sensor systems using the IEEE 802.15.4 standard even for the most data intensive applications such as condition monitoring
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 23 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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A battery-free wireless condition monitoring team
Perpetuum and Cap-XX have teamed up to use the Perpetuum vibration energy-harvesting micro-generator, with a Cap-XX supercapacitor, to allow wireless condition monitoring systems
ATEX-certified energy harvesting power source
Perpetuum has launched the intrinsically safe ATEX approved microgenerator version of the industrial PMG17 vibration energy harvester, for safe sensor working in Zone 0, 1 or 2 environments
This opens up many new opportunities for proprietary protocols.
The Texas Instruments CC2420 transceiver is designed for low-power, low-voltage RF applications using the 802.15.4 protocol.
A vibration energy-harvesting sensor node designed around the CC2420 by Perpetuum engineers is capable of sampling 2kbyte of vibration data and transmitting it over 100m (line-of-sight) every 60 seconds when only 0.025g of vibration is present.
At this incredibly low level of vibration the PMG17 energy harvester produces up to 1mW, while at 1g the output is around 50mW, enabling the node to measure and transmit continuously.
The node can be configured to measure and transmit much smaller data sets, such as temperature, more frequently, or larger data sets less frequently, depending on the application.
"We are delighted Perpetuum has designed a practical alternative to batteries that can be used to power our transmitters" says Frank Forster, Business Development Manager, Catalog DSP, MCU and Low-Power Wireless Europe at Texas Instruments.
With an increasing industry demand for wireless sensor systems, battery-free systems are now a reality.
They offer a reliable source of power and there are no disposal and maintenance issues.
"Our microgenerators and the Texas Instruments CC2420 enable wireless sensing nodes to monitor plant, process and machinery, remotely, wirelessly and without any batteries" says John Parker, Senior Engineer at Perpetuum.
Operators can use the data about the condition of plant equipment for improved asset management, and for preventative maintenance, allowing them to significantly reduce down-time and save thousands of pounds.
An application note to aid engineers designing self-powered wireless condition monitoring systems is available for download from the Perpetuum website.
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