Design of energy harvesting thermoelectric generator with wireless sensors in organic fertilizer plant

Abstract

Every manufacturing process leaves waste to environment. Some waste must be controlled. Some waste can be utilized. Like the organic fertilizer plant, it leaves waste from chicken manure digestion of bacteria. The air pollution has ammonia gas and heat. The gas has to be deodorized by deodorizer tank. On the other hand, the heat can be harvested for electrical energy. The plant needs to monitor ammonia gas level in the waste out air. We propose a design the energy harvest appliance to produce electrical power from a temperature difference which is caused by heat energy on surface of the deodorizer tank. The electricity powers wireless sensors which check quality of the waste air. The thermoelectric generator (TEG) is used to convert the heat energy to be electrical power. It converts temperature gradient between its hot side and cool side to be electrical power based on the Seebeck effect. For long life time, the two energy storage concept (a super capacitor primary storage and a battery secondary storage) is used and the power management is proposed. The system can work and stand alone. The experimental results show that the system can generate continual power up to 290mW.