As IoT technology progresses, the question of how to power these devices, particularly in locations where reliable electrical sources are scarce, presents a significant challenge.
Researchers at the University of Utah’s College of Engineering have pioneered a new form of battery that could help solve this dilemma. The solution, which is at the proof of concept stage, comes in the form of a pyroelectrochemical cell (PEC).
Developed by associate professors of mechanical engineering Roseanne Warren and Shad Roundy, the integrated device harvests ambient thermal energy and converts it into stored electrochemical energy. This effectively creates a supercapacitor or battery, which could be ideal for IoT and sensor applications.
Low levels of energy
The device works by charging with changes in its surrounding temperatures, whether located inside a vehicle, an aircraft, or even underneath soil in an agricultural environment.
“We’re talking very low levels of energy harvesting,” Warren said, “but the ability to have sensors that can be distributed and not need to be recharged in the field is the main advantage. We explored the basic physics of it and found that it could generate a charge with an increase in temperature or a decrease in temperature.”
Whilst solar cells can provide an alternative power source of IoT devices, the practicalities often present issues. “In a lot of environments, you run into two problems,” said Roundy. “One is that it gets dirty over time. Solar cells have to be kept clean. So in these types of applications, they get dirty and their power degrades. And then there are a lot of applications where you just don’t have sunlight available. For example, we work on soil sensors that we put just under the top surface of the soil. You’re not going to get any sunlight.”
With the use of a pyroelectric composite material made of porous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and barium titanate nanoparticles as the separator in an electrochemical cell, the device’s electrical properties change as it’s heated or cooled. This action modifies the polarization of the pyroelectric separator. This shifting of temperatures in turn creates an electric field within the cell, moving ions around and allowing the cell to store energy.
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Despite only producing up to 100 microjoules per square centimeter from a single heating/cooling cycle, this could be enough for the needs of some IoT applications.
The study, funded by the National Science Foundation, is the cover feature in the March 21 edition of the journal Energy & Environmental Science, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
As businesses across Europe look to stay ahead of the competition and drive success, leaders at these organizations are continuously on the lookout for new solutions. Especially those that tap into the potential of their data to generate valuable insights. A key innovation in this space growing in adoption is enhanced smart video that can lean on the power of artificial intelligence (AI).
AI-powered smart video solutions have far more capabilities than the traditional surveillance associated with their basic counterparts, making these tools the new must have for businesses across numerous diverse sectors. They apply advanced analytics that deliver insights almost instantly to better operations, limit costs and boost revenue.
A study from Western Digital was recently launched to understand the impact of AI on smart video, especially its capabilities for European businesses. The results found that AI is already integral in delivering advantages including improved scalability, efficiency, customization of surveillance and analytics. As smart video technology becomes more agile and AI grows in proliferation, its use cases will only increase further. While the full use cases of smart video are emerging, numerous examples can already be observed across diverse sectors including:
Smart manufacturing: AI analytics in the factory
In manufacturing, smart video is already critically important. When implemented in factories, these solutions carry various advantages. After filming the production process, leaders can collect data for analysis. Consequently, they can understand which stages of production are inefficient and then work to prevent bottlenecks. Data collected may also predict upcoming machinery issues, ensuring systems are upgraded as necessary.
On a mass scale, improving production efficiency drives much greater outputs and profits. Beyond analytics generation, smart video technologies in factories can monitor employee health and safety, reporting on incidents automatically where appropriate. This can give factories access to better insurance policies and help to improve their reputation for staff welfare. In project management and planning, analytics from video recordings can also be referenced to align with global safety standards.
Peter Hayles
Product Marketing Manager HDD, Western Digital.
Smart video in healthcare
Hospitals, doctors’ surgeries and other healthcare facilities now increasingly rely on smart video systems to improve security and the efficiency of care. On entering a building, a patient’s data from smart video can trigger an alert, ensuring they patient receives care as quickly as possible. In some cases, this may come in the form of a staff member assisting them, or even a full team with specialist equipment during a medical emergency.
Over weeks and months, data analytics can better facilities management and staffing levels, guaranteeing required resources are allocated to the peak times. This, therefore, limits unnecessary expenditure and staff burnout, especially prevalent if medical staff are in short supply. For example, if a GP surgery has too many staff in relation to patient appointments, smart video analytics can help identify busier facilities where staffing ought to be allocated.
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Keeping transport moving
Smart video is also being used in public transport systems to improve service delivery. For companies managing trains, tubes, trams and buses, tracking journey times is a major operation. In London, the bus system alone is made up of 9,300 vehicles operating 675 routes. To boost efficiency, smart video insights can be used to assign staff and vehicles especially peak times when there is the greatest volume of human traffic. These insights can also be used to flag and counter issues.
In some of the world’s largest cities, smart video insights can help a passenger in need of assistance, or a fault on a line. Where problems cause delays, analytics can help to reroute other trains where needed and alert control rooms to plan accordingly. This helps the world’s biggest cities to keep moving.
Besides public transport, smart video is also being implemented for traffic management of roads in cities. When crossing a road, traffic lights will automatically change when necessary without the need to push a button. This ensures that these lights are being used most effectively. Insights from AI smart video can also be used to warn for upcoming traffic through signage changes, allowing drivers to re-route their journey to less congested routes.
Data produced through smart video
Research has highlighted the benefits of smart video, as well as an increasing willingness to install new or upgrade old smart video systems. However, rapid deployment will further increase demands to store valuable data. Most AI-equipped smart video solutions use 4K recording for real-time insights. Therefore, even more data must be stored and accessed on demand. As a quarter of businesses plan to implement this technology by the end of the year, data storage requirements will only increase.
Depending on the scale of the smart video operations and specific user requirements, different storage solutions may be required. For the heavy workloads required to deal with video footage and analytics, many business leaders opt for HDDs as a cost-effective, high-capacity option. With the high performance required for these use cases, many business leaders opt for storage solutions specifically designed with smart video in mind. This helps organizations to work smarter.
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