A WSN system powered by vibrations to improve safety of machinery with trailer

Author

Dondi, Denis ; Napoletano, Giacomantonio ; Bertacchini, Alessandro ; Larcher, Luca ; Pavan, Paolo

Author_Institution

Dept. of Sci. & Methods for Eng., Univ. degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy

fYear

2012

fDate

28-31 Oct. 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

In this paper we present an energetically autonomous wireless sensor system designed to enhance safety in industrial machinery comprising a main vehicle with an attached trailer. The proposed system establishes a wireless link between the vehicle ECU and our sensors to provide motion dynamic data of trailer to the vehicle stability control algorithm. The wireless sensor devices we implemented comprise a 3-axial accelerometer and a 3-axial magnetometer to detect the trailer operating conditions. Such motion data are elaborated using an ultra-low power MCU, which communicates to vehicle´ ECU using an IEEE 802.15.4 channel at 2.4GHz. To enable perpetual operation of the system, we developed a vibrational energy harvesting system, VIBester, capable to gather kinetic energy from trailer natural vibrations and convert such energy in electrical energy for the system power supply. The vibrational energy harvester adopts a piezoelectric (PZT) transducer to convert the kinetic energy and a custom AC/DC converter to supply the wireless sensor device.

Keywords

AC-DC power convertors; Zigbee; accelerometers; automotive electronics; computerised monitoring; condition monitoring; energy harvesting; machinery; magnetometers; microcontrollers; motion control; occupational safety; piezoelectric transducers; radio links; stability; vibrations; wireless channels; wireless sensor networks; IEEE 802.15.4 channel; MCU; VIBester; WSN system; autonomous wireless sensor system; axial accelerometer; axial magnetometer; custom AC-DC converter; frequency 2.4 GHz; industrial machinery safety; kinetic energy conversion; motion dynamic data; piezoelectric transducer; trailer natural vibration; trailer operating condition detection; vehicle ECU; vehicle stability control algorithm; vibrational energy harvesting system; wireless link; Accelerometers; Employee welfare; Power demand; Vehicles; Vibrations; Wireless communication; Wireless sensor networks;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sensors, 2012 IEEE

Conference_Location

Taipei

ISSN

1930-0395

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-1766-6

Electronic_ISBN

1930-0395

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSENS.2012.6411104

Filename

6411104