Thermal energy harvesting - Monitoring of the soil temperature

The intention of this evaluation was to gather data of the soil temperature to estimate the utilization of thermal energy harvesters (e.g. peltier elements). This information is useful for several applications that utilize the temperature gradient for harvesting energy. Especially for smart farming applications (cf. PotatoNet) this approach might be beneficial. Especially for sensors that are deployed close to the ground an energy harvesting based on solar cells is not suitable. Dirt and the plants shadow the surface of the solar cells so that the thermal harvesting might be a potential alternative.

We consider 9 temperature sensors at a sample rate of 10s. As part of our REAP project, the data of this evaluation will be analyzed soon. However, we like to share our dataset with the community for further investigations. For questions please contact Ulf Kulau.

Download:

• Dataset of the soil temperature evaluation (sqlite database)

Notes:

• 01.12.2017: The evaluation was stopped
• 06.10.2017: The batteries had been exchanged again
• 26.03.2017: The sensor node was equipped with new batteries
• 25.10.2016: Evaluation has been started

Temperatures:

Battery voltage:

Temperature differences:

Project members at IBR