(Image Credit: Marko Blažević)
Back in 2012, IBM announced a prediction of 1 trillion connected IoT devices by 2015, a staggering number that was not reached at the time. During that same year, Ben Calhoun and Dave Wentzloff, MIT graduates, co-founded “Everactive” and collaborated to develop power-efficient circuits. They realized that managing 1 trillion IoT devices would be very challenging since the sensors need batteries to collect, transmit, and analyze data. To face this challenge head-on, Calhoun and Wentzloft set out to eliminate batteries in IoT devices.
Gartner stated that over 65% of enterprises are expected to adopt IoT devices by 2020. “Everactive” says that 274 million batteries, assuming they reach their ten-year lifespan, would need a daily replacement to power 1 trillion IoT devices. IDTechEx’s report argues that battery-powered IoT devices could undermine 80% of the IoT’s potential.
A mid-sized factory typically manufactures 10,000 IoT devices that monitor air quality, temperature, HV AC systems, and report on steam traps. Replacing the batteries every year also seems impossible due to their lifespan and the type of device, resulting in thousands of dollars in replacement, time, and effort. Today’s wireless networking technology also presents an issue. It’s impossible to perform cloud-based analytics for battery-powered devices. High-density sensor networks with long-range communication capabilities need to be implemented for these 1 trillion IoT devices.
Everactive’s solution for this battery issue involves utilizing ultra-low-power integrated circuits to create a new lower-power wireless network. This is the same technology that Calhoun and Wentzloff researched as graduate students. Calhoun’s team focused on low-power digital systems, while Wentzloff’s group worked on low-power communication. These breakthroughs allowed Everactive’s solutions to power its sensors using renewable energy. The company released its first device, a steam trap monitor, which can be used in small factories and large oil and chemical refineries.
Steam carries large amounts of energy over long distances, making it ideal for use in vertical applications. However, wasted energy is still a risk due to failure, downtime, or explosions. It’s also difficult to monitor thousands of steam traps if they malfunction. Minimal inspection is problematic because steam traps are usually on the ground while others are two or three stories up.
Everactive’s sensors can be used at scale and are less costly to run compared to battery-powered devices. Its networking and cloud software, Evercloud, transforms new data into high-value, operational insights. This can be used to evaluate the system’s state on every steam trap in a steam distribution network.
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