Wireless thermocouple

Combining this energy harvesting technology with wireless communications effectively eliminates the need to run any wires to or from the device.

"It would be a dream come true for an engineer to have a self-powered wireless thermocouple,” says Nikhil Kumar, area electrical engineer at the Port Talbot steelworks. "You don’t have to run any cable, which saves money on the installation and also eliminates the risk of burning or damaging the cable during operation.”

The ABB device hasn’t missed a single reading in the three months since it was installed, and has not had to resort once to its on-board battery backup, according to Tata Steel.

The trial was initiated to see how the technology would cope in one of the harshest operating environments in industry.  The thermocouple is installed on one of the plant’s steam lines, which operates at 120°C. The harvesting technology requires a temperature difference of just 30°C between the process and its surroundings in order to drive the instrument’s electronics and transmit its readings.