Google Search
C6: Novel applications
The aging and distributed infrastructure, such as the pavement, requires a proactive strategy to ensure their functionality and performance. Low-power-consumption embedded sensors are needed to design and implement infrastructures that are intelligent and durable. A power supply strategy is among the crucial components to reduce the instrument cost and to ensure the long term function of these embedded sensors. This paper describes the design of a thermoelectric energy harvest system that will produce electricity from the temperature difference between the pavement surface and the subgrade soil. The electronic circuit was designed to manage the thermoelectric power output and store the energy for long term monitoring applications. The performance of the energy harvesting system was evaluated by experiments. Overall, this presents an innovative thermoelectric power supply for long term monitoring of pavement performance.