Thermally feedable transmitter and sensor system

• US 20040242169A1
• Filed: 07/20/2004
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EnOcean GmbH
• Original Assignee: EnOcean GmbH
• Inventors: Seisenberge, Claus, Bulst, Wolf-Eckhart, Sczesny, Oliver, Schmidt, Frank, Pistor, Klaus, Albsmeier, Andre
• Granted Patent: US 7,392,022 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/91
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/024 for remote indication
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/14 Supports; Fastening devices; Arrangements for mounting thermometers in particular locations
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 2207/06 for preparation purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 2215/00 Details concerning sensor power supply

Abstract

The transmitter which can be fed thermally has at least one heat transducer element (1) with a downstream voltage transformer (3) and logic assembly (4) as well as a data transmission unit (5, 6), and is characterized in that the logic assembly (4) is designed on a ULP basis, and the data transmission unit (5, 6) transmits a broadband signal.

Claims

1. A transmitter which can be fed thermally having

at least one heat transducer element (1) with a downstream voltage transformer (3),

a logic assembly (4) which is connected to the voltage transformer (3) and has sequence control,

a data transmission unit (5, 6) which is connected to the logic assembly (4),

characterized in that

the logic assembly (4) is designed on a ULP basis, and the data transmission unit (5, 6) transmits a broadband signal.

2. The transmitter as claimed in claim 1, in which the logic assembly (4) designed on a ULP basis has a power consumption of less than 10 mW.

3. The transmitter as claimed in one of claims 1 or 2, in which the bandwidth of the broadband signal is more than 100 kHz, in particular between 300 kHz and 600 kHz.

4. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which the logic assembly (4) has an LC resonant circuit or an RC resonant circuit as a clock transmitter.

5. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which at least one heat transducer element (1) is a thermal transducer by means of which thermal energy can be converted to electrical energy on the basis of the thermoelectric principle.

6. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which at least one heat transducer element (1) is a pyroelectric transducer, by means of which thermal energy can be converted to electrical energy on the basis of the pyroelectric principle.

7. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which the heat transducer element (1) is followed by a rectifier circuit (2).

8. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which a solar cell is provided as an additional electrical power supply.

9. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which the electrical energy which is emitted from the heat transducer element (1) can be stored in at least one electrical energy storage element, in particular a capacitor (7) or a rechargeable battery.

10. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which the voltage transformer circuit (3) can be operated on a clocked basis.

11. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which the data transmission unit (5, 6) has an SAW resonator as the frequency-determining component.

12. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which the logic assembly (4) is connected to at least one sensor (8).

13. The transmitter as claimed in claim 12, in which the at least one sensor (8) is an accumulating sensor.

14. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which the transmission stage (5) is a radio-frequency transmission stage, by means of which a radio-frequency signal at a frequency (f) of more than 1 MHz, in particular at a frequency (f) of between 100 MHz and 30 GHz, can be transmitted.

15. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which a delay apparatus is provided between the logic assembly (4) and a transmission antenna (6) of the data transmission unit (5, 6).

16. The transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which the logic assembly (4) is connected to memory, in which an identification code is stored.

17. A method for operation of a transmitter as claimed in one of the preceding claims, in which a transmission message is transmitted within a time period of 0.3 ms to 5 ms, in particular between 0.5 ms and 2 ms.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, in which two or more transmission messages are transmitted successively.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, in which a time interval and/or the frequency (f) of the transmission messages can be adjusted variably with respect to one another.

20. The method as claimed in one of claims 16 to 19, in which the information in the transmission message is scrambled, in particular if two or more transmission messages are scrambled differently.

21. Use of a transmitter as claimed in one of claims 1 to 15 for heating, for cooking or for system engineering.

22. A system for monitoring and/or control, having

at least one transmitter as claimed in one of claims 1 to 15,

at least one unit for indication of data which is transmitted from the at least one transmitter and/or for controlling at least one of the apparatus which are monitored by the transmitter, on the basis of the received data.

23. The system as claimed in claim 22, for temperature monitoring, in particular for cooking area monitoring or system monitoring.