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Development of a Digital and Battery-Free Smart Flowmeter

Author

Listed:
  • Wang Song Hao

    (Mechanical Engineering Department, Kun Shan University, 195 Kun Da Road, Tainan City 71003, Taiwan)

  • Ronald Garcia

    (Mechanical Engineering Department, Kun Shan University, 195 Kun Da Road, Tainan City 71003, Taiwan)

Abstract

To effectively manage and save energy and natural resources, the measurement and monitoring of gas/fluid flows play extremely important roles. The objective of this study was to incorporate an efficient power generation and a power management system for a commercial water flow meter thus eliminating the usage of batteries. Three major technologies have made this possible: a low power consumption metering unit, a cog-resistance-free generator with high efficiency; and an effective methodology to extract/store energy. In this system, a new attempt and simple approach was developed to successfully extract a portion of the kinetic energy from the fluid/air, store it in a capacitor and used it efficiently. The resistance to the flow was negligible because of the very low power consumption as well as the application of the coreless generator technology. Feasibility was demonstrated through repeated experiments: for air flowing in an 11 mm diameter pipe, 18 s of energy harvesting at 10 revolution-per-second (RPS) turbine speeds generated enough power for the flowmeter to operate for 720 s with a flowrate of 20 RPS, without battery or any external power. The pipeline monitoring in remote areas such as deep sea oil drilling; geothermal power plants and even nuclear power plants could benefit greatly from this self-power metering system design.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang Song Hao & Ronald Garcia, 2014. "Development of a Digital and Battery-Free Smart Flowmeter," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:7:y:2014:i:6:p:3695-3709:d:37101
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Marco Fagiani & Stefano Squartini & Leonardo Gabrielli & Marco Severini & Francesco Piazza, 2016. "A Statistical Framework for Automatic Leakage Detection in Smart Water and Gas Grids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-25, August.
    2. Bin Li & Yang Gou & Jie Chen & Zhengyu Zhang, 2021. "Peak Ratio Characteristic Value Sequence Based Signal Processing Method for Transit-Time Ultrasonic Gas Flowmeter," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-18, January.
    3. Lv, Kai & Xie, Yudong & Wang, Yong & Sun, Guang, 2021. "Performance investigations of a control valve with the function of energy harvesting," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    4. Jiyun, Du & Hongxing, Yang & Zhicheng, Shen & Xiaodong, Guo, 2018. "Development of an inline vertical cross-flow turbine for hydropower harvesting in urban water supply pipes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 386-397.
    5. Yao, Yao & Shen, Zhicheng & Wang, Qiliang & Du, Jiyun & Lu, Lin & Yang, Hongxing, 2023. "Development of an inline bidirectional micro crossflow turbine for hydropower harvesting from water supply pipelines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    6. Tao Wang & Yunce Zhang, 2018. "Design, Analysis, and Evaluation of a Compact Electromagnetic Energy Harvester from Water Flow for Remote Sensors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, June.
    7. Kai Lv & Yudong Xie & Xinbiao Zhang & Yong Wang, 2020. "Development of Savonius Rotors Integrated into Control Valves for Energy Harvesting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-19, October.

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