13.10.2011 Energy Harvesting in Force Measurement

Energy Harvesting in Force Measurement
A topic with which not only been involved Alluris since Fukushima

Mobile Gauges (rechargeable) batteries are out of our daily lives have become indispensable. But there are countless inpatient electronic measuring devices in production that need to be operated without electricity. All share a common problem that the energy storage either replaced or needs to be recharged regularly. Some users choose, therefore, even for purely mechanical devices. In our development department, we have been working for some time to find a solution to this problem.

Our solution is called energy harvesting. The principle sounds very simple: Harvesting means "harvest" energy from the environment of the electronic device, in our case, "harvesting" we see the light at the workplace with the help of a solar cell. The physical principles of this are known, although the use of small amounts of light (200 lux) is a challenge for the treatment required operating voltage.

Absolutely new is that we managed to reduce the energy consumption of our electronic power meter extreme. Thus it is possible that the new mobile work force gauges the FMI-S series of energy self-sufficient, do not need any additional power from the grid.

The new force gauge series FMI-S consists of three models with measuring ranges from 5N to 5000N, resolution up to 10,000 steps to train and compressive strength, accuracy ranges up to 0.1% and the innovative power supply design with an integrated solar cell.

FMI-S10 ... the default device for the mobile power measurement. For outdoor use with IP65 splash proof (from 500N)

FMI-S20 ... with a high sampling rate especially for the accurate determination of fracture and tensile strength.

FMI-S30 ... equipped with additional features, such as a limit value monitoring, scalable data recording, statistical functions, USB interface.