Towards a self-sustained moisture and temperature monitoring system using soil energy

Author

Fu-To Lin ; Jen-Chien Hsieh ; Fu-Chun Wen ; Wei-Kuan Wang ; Huang-Chen Lee ; Yu-Te Liao

Author_Institution

Electr. Eng. Dept., Nat. Chung-Cheng Univ., Chiayi, Taiwan

fYear

2013

fDate

3-6 Nov. 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

Limited energy source dominates the use of sensor system, especially for outdoor environment monitoring. This paper presents a self-sustained moisture and temperature monitoring system using soil energy. The fabricated 36.5 cm³ soil cell (Zinc-Carbon electrodes) can provide maximum output power of 70μW at a load of 2kΩ. The proposed sensor system includes custom DC-DC converter IC, microcontroller, micro-LCD display and temperature as well as moisture sensors. The system was demonstrated measuring temperature and moisture changes directly using inexpensive and renewable soil energy without external power supply. This technology may enable remote field environment monitoring with less labor-intensive work and battery replacement.

Keywords

environmental monitoring (geophysics); geophysical techniques; moisture measurement; soil; temperature sensors; DC-DC converter IC; Zn-C; microLCD display; microcontroller; moisture sensors; outdoor environment monitoring; power 70 muW; resistance 2 kohm; self-sustained moisture-temperature monitoring system; sensor system; soil cell; soil energy; temperature sensors; zinc-carbon electrodes; Computer architecture; Electrodes; Moisture; Soil; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Voltage measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

SENSORS, 2013 IEEE

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD

ISSN

1930-0395

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSENS.2013.6688613

Filename

6688613