工业网络的能量收集

　　工业网络的能量收集

　　本文讨论了在工业环境中为独立网络节点提供电力、从振动、太阳能和热源获取能量的技术和技术。

　　能源管理是任何工业运作中越来越重要的组成部分。电力和煤气是主要的间接费用，而保持这些成本是一个长期的挑战。同时，越来越多的网络传感器可以在车间内使用，以监控日益增长的能源需求。对于这样的machine-2-machine市场（M2M）联网单位预计将增长到超过500亿的设备在未来的十年里，他们都需要运行功率。

　　虽然在工业环境中，这些M2M单元通常在附近有一个能源；连接一个网络节点到一个电源插座是昂贵和费时的。随着芯片制造技术的进步，大大降低了功耗，以及可以提供长距离低功耗的频率和协议，这些单位现在可以利用当地环境来产生自己的电力。这种能量可以来自各种各样的来源，从移动设备的振动能量到温差，甚至来自室内照明的能量。

　　These are often used alongside a rechargeable battery that acts as a power source and a backup， but the key point is that these do not need replacing and can last the lifetime of the equipment as they are constantly recharged by the energy harvesting circuits. Such units are also self-contained so that they can be placed in areas that are hard to reach and where it would be difficult to replace the batteries， giving more flexibility to the operations manager to place these sensors and network nodes in exactly the optimum location.

　　Solar energy

　　The Silicon Labs Solar Energy Harvesting Board with Thin Film Battery （Figure 1） is an evaluation board that contains all the necessary elements to provide a networked node that is powered from indoor lighting or the sun. It is aimed at systems that wake periodically to measure and transmit results and， as it is powered from an energy harvesting source， the life expectancy of the thin film battery is greater than 15 years or 7000 mAh. This also means the wireless node can be designed with a very thin profile as the battery height is 0.17 mm to fit into the tightest spaces.