Research Article
Soil-Based Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting System for IoT Devices
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-031-84426-3_8, author={Joaquin Dillen and Ant\^{o}nio Moreira}, title={Soil-Based Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting System for IoT Devices}, proceedings={Internet of Everything. Third EAI International Conference, IoECon 2024, Guimar\"{a}es, Portugal, September 26--27, 2024, Proceedings}, proceedings_a={IOECON}, year={2025}, month={3}, keywords={Energy Harvesting Low Power Peltier Cells Seebeck effect Smart Cities}, doi={10.1007/978-3-031-84426-3_8} }- Joaquin Dillen
António Moreira
Year: 2025
Soil-Based Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting System for IoT Devices
IOECON
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-84426-3_8
Abstract
This paper describes an approach to harvesting electrical energy from a thermal excited Peltier cell. To this day, Peltier cells have been used for cooling purposes as the most popular use among other projects. The present research dives into the possible use of these cells to generate enough energy to power sensors that can be used and introduced into the concept of IoT and, more specifically, Smart Cities. Taking advantage of the Seebeck effect and using a cylindrical shape to be easily installed into the soil, the developed solution was to generate enough energy to power a small IoT device, while charging a backup battery using the thermal difference for the proposed device. Throughout several tests and analysis, it was possible to, not only affirm that it is possible to generate energy but also achieve a design that works obtaining energy in an average day of up to 35 or 40% of the time. This approach can be used for different low power applications.
