ISA 2012 Automation Week Track: Wireless Wednesday, 26 September, 9:30-11:00 am, Room 205A Michael Macchiarelli Imagine Instruments, LLC The “Going Wireless” trend continues in industrial and municipal installations. While there is a substantial reduction in installation labor cost associated with a wireless system over a hard-wired system, proper planning during equipment selection and installation must be done to avoid unforeseen maintenance expenses later. Most wireless sensors are powered by a limited-life power source; more often, this is a low voltage lithium cell. Depending upon the transmission rate set for data to be sent to the receiving units, the battery will over time deplete and require replacement.
In applications where a continuous stream of data is needed, the battery may last only a few weeks or even worse, a few days. The “Solar Powered Sensors & Instrumentation” presentation will explore solutions to this problem by using solar energy harvesting technology. Solar power is becoming the energy of choice to replace limited-life battery cells in remotely located wireless sensing applications. Energy from the sun is collected by photovoltaic cells and stored. In general, energy can be stored in a capacitor, super capacitor, or lead-acid, deep-cycle battery.
Batteries leak less energy and are therefore used when a steady flow of energy over very long periods of time. The basic system can provide uninterrupted power for many years without the need of battery replacement. A typical system consists of a solar panel, solar charge controller, deep-cycle battery, and a power supply/power conditioner. Sample system components and application examples will be presented. Attendees will leave this presentation with a comprehensive understanding of energy harvesting technology and the benefit and value of utilizing off-grid solar power to reduce maintenance and operating cost.
