ABSTRACT
This work investigates the potential for harvesting hydraulic energy from water flow to create a self-sustainable flow measurement device for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. A prototype of a hydraulic circuit with a microturbine for energy harvesting, flow sensor, microcontroller, and power management circuits was developed. Experiments measured the energy generated versus consumed by the system under different operating conditions. Results showed the microturbine could generate around 1W of power from flows above 2.5 L/min, sufficient to power the measurement device and recharge its battery continuously. The system’s average power consumption was reduced by up to 54.5% with strategies like low-power sleep modes and optimized data transmission intervals. Experiments showed the microturbine could generate around 1W of power from flows above 2.5 L/min, sufficient to power the measurement device and recharge its battery continuously. The system’s average power consumption was reduced by up to 54.5% with strategies like low-power sleep modes and optimized data transmission intervals. Comparisons between the ESP8266 and ESP32 microcontrollers highlighted tradeoffs between power consumption, processing capabilities, and sleep modes. The research validates the viability of hydraulic energy harvesting for self-sustainable IoT sensor nodes in the context of flow measurement.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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Niveathasaro Vijayaregunathan
Niveathasaro Vijayaregunathan was born in Pudukkottai in 1992. she completed her undergraduate studies at Sudharsan Engineering College in 2014 and obtained her postgraduate degree from JJ College of Engineering and Technology in 2016. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D., delving into the Internet of Things (IoT) and its potential impact on future technological landscapes. In addition to her research pursuits, she holds the role of assistant professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at Sudharsan Engineering College, Since 2023. she has 7 years of experience in teaching.
Vijayarajan Periyasamy
Vijayarajan Periyasamy was born in Tittagudi, in 1981. He completed his graduate programme in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Madras in 2003 and his post graduate programme M.E (Power System Engineering) from Annamalai University in 2005. He completed Ph.D degree program from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Anna University, Chennai, Tamilnadu India in 2018. Since 2009, he is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Anna University, BIT Campus; Tiruchirappalli. He has 18 years of experience in teaching and published several papers in reputed international journals and national conferences respectively. He is a Fellow of IEE and Life Member in ISTE. His research interests include power systems, Application of power electronics converters in renewable energy systems, multilevel inverters and IOT applications to smart Electrical energy systems.
Arunkumar Munimathan
ArunKumar Munimathan is a citizen of India, born in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, India. He obtained his Doctoral research in the area of alternative fuels at Anna University Chennai, India. He has about 10 years of teaching experience and presently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology(Autonomous), Coimbatore. His areas of interests are alternative fuels, emission control, Heat Transfer.