The Internet of Things (IoT), coupled with advanced analytics, is poised to revolutionize manufacturing maintenance and efficiency. However, a practical route to powering these many IoT devices remains unclear. In this work, flexible thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are fabricated from low cost, screen printed silver and nickel inks before being integrated into a novel form factor device based on commercial steam pipe insulation. Through optimization of internal resistances and total device design, this 420-junction TEG device produces 308 µW of power at a temperature difference of 127 K. This is sufficient to power a temperature sensing circuit with wireless communication capabilities. In this report we demonstrate that, after an initial 4 h of charging, this TEG can power a standard RFduino microcontroller for 10 min while sending temperature readings every 30 s via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to a cell phone. Additional optimization and scaling could further increase system efficiency and provide a viable route to powering an industrial wireless sensing network (WSN).

物联网（IoT）与先进的分析技术相结合，有望彻底改变制造维护和效率。但是，为这些许多物联网设备供电的实用方法仍不清楚。在这项工作中，柔性热电发电机（TEG）由低成本的丝网印刷银和镍油墨制成，然后再集成到基于商用蒸汽管道绝缘的新型形状因数设备中。通过优化内部电阻和整个器件设计，这款420结TEG器件在127 K的温差下产生308 µW的功率。这足以为具有无线通信功能的温度感测电路供电。在此报告中，我们证明了在充电最初4小时后，该TEG可以为标准的RFduino微控制器供电10分钟，同时每30秒钟通过低功耗蓝牙（BLE）将温度读数发送到手机。额外的优化和扩展可以进一步提高系统效率，并为工业无线传感网络（WSN）供电提供可行的途径。