阅读说明：本技术 一种应用于智能水表的柔性温差取能模块 (Flexible temperature difference energy-obtaining module applied to intelligent water meter ) 是由 范建华 沈华刚 陈维广 陈超然 卢方君 刘永广 张公森 张建 李伟 吴雪梅 卢峰 于 2020-06-20 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种应用于智能水表的柔性温差取能模块,它包括柔性温差发电片、热交换结构、电源管理模块、冷热源。柔性温差发电片包括上下柔性基底、p型和n型热电臂、电极和绝缘导线。电源管理模块包括升压稳压电路、储能电路。热交换结构紧密贴合在柔性温差发电片外侧。本发明应用柔性温差发电模块为智能水表供电,克服了单独使用电池供电的传统智能水表寿命短的缺点；相比传统商用陶瓷温差发电模块具有高转换效率、高可靠、低成本等优势。(The invention discloses a flexible temperature difference energy-obtaining module applied to an intelligent water meter, which comprises a flexible temperature difference power generation sheet, a heat exchange structure, a power management module and a cold and heat source. The flexible thermoelectric power generation piece comprises an upper flexible substrate, a lower flexible substrate, p-type thermoelectric arms, n-type thermoelectric arms, electrodes and an insulated lead. The power management module comprises a voltage boosting and stabilizing circuit and an energy storage circuit. The heat exchange structure is tightly attached to the outer side of the flexible thermoelectric generation piece. The invention applies the flexible temperature difference power generation module to supply power to the intelligent water meter, and overcomes the defect of short service life of the traditional intelligent water meter which is supplied with power by a battery; compared with the traditional commercial ceramic thermoelectric power generation module, the thermoelectric power generation module has the advantages of high conversion efficiency, high reliability, low cost and the like.)

1. A flexible temperature difference energy-obtaining module applied to an intelligent water meter is characterized by comprising a flexible temperature difference power generation sheet, a heat exchange structure (4), a power management module (7) and a cold and heat source; the flexible thermoelectric power generation sheet comprises an upper flexible substrate (1), a lower flexible substrate (1), a p-type thermoelectric arm (2), an n-type thermoelectric arm (3), an electrode (10) and an insulated wire (5); the power management module (7) comprises a voltage boosting and stabilizing circuit and an energy storage circuit, and the heat exchange structure (4) can be used for absorbing or dissipating heat.

2. The flexible thermoelectric power module as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible thermoelectric power generating sheet is formed by plating electrodes on a flexible substrate, and connecting a plurality of pairs of p-type and n-type thermoelectric arms alternately arranged thereon, and connecting the flexible substrate plated with electrodes on top, so that the thermoelectric arms are electrically connected in series and thermally connected in parallel.

3. The flexible temperature difference energy-taking module applied to the intelligent water meter is characterized in that when the temperature of water in the water pipe is higher than room temperature air, the heat source is the water pipe through which hot water flows, the cold source is a heat exchange structure, and the heat exchange structure is used for heat dissipation; when the temperature of water in the water pipe is lower than that of air at room temperature, the cold source is the water pipe through which cold water flows, the heat source is a heat exchange structure in contact with the air at room temperature, the inner side of the flexible thermoelectric generation piece is closely attached to the outer side of the water pipe through a heat conduction interface material, and the outer side of the flexible thermoelectric generation piece is well connected with the heat exchange structure through the heat conduction interface material.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of thermoelectric power generation and energy taking, in particular to a flexible thermoelectric energy taking module applied to an intelligent water meter.

Background

The existing widely used household water meter is often mechanical, needs to be read by workers regularly, has low precision and is gradually replaced by an intelligent water meter, and the intelligent water meter is generally controlled by a micropower circuit, so that the functions of remote reading, flow monitoring and the like can be realized. The intelligent water meter in the market generally adopts storage battery power supply, or adopts external power supply, and this cost that can greatly increased water meter installation and maintain, and battery life is limited, needs periodic replacement, restricts the life and the data safety of water meter, consequently needs a design that can utilize rivers to carry out the electricity generation, realizes the self-power of intelligent water meter.

The thermoelectric material can directly convert thermodynamic energy into electric energy according to the Seebeck effect, further supplies power to the intelligent water meter, and has the advantages of cleanness, small volume, no moving parts and the like. Compare in traditional commercial ceramic thermoelectric generation module, flexible thermoelectric generation module has better mechanical properties, including bendability, can stretch out and warp etc. and at the miniaturized, wearable electronic device of electron device, extensive application prospect has in fields such as biological medicine and can get, and the water pipe is mostly the curved surface, and flexible thermoelectric generation module can with water pipe zonulae occludens, consequently has higher conversion efficiency and longer life-span than dull and stereotyped thermoelectric generation module of pottery.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the problems, the invention provides a flexible temperature difference energy-taking module applied to an intelligent water meter.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the technical scheme that:

a flexible temperature difference energy-obtaining module applied to an intelligent water meter comprises a flexible temperature difference power generation sheet, a heat exchange structure, a power management module and a cold and heat source; the flexible thermoelectric generation piece comprises an upper flexible substrate, a lower flexible substrate, a p-type thermoelectric arm, an n-type thermoelectric arm, an electrode and an insulated wire; the power management module comprises a voltage boosting and stabilizing circuit and an energy storage circuit, and the heat exchange structure can be used for absorbing or dissipating heat.

Preferably, the flexible thermoelectric power generation sheet is formed by plating electrodes on a flexible substrate, connecting a plurality of pairs of p-type and n-type thermoelectric arms which are alternately arranged on the flexible substrate, and connecting the flexible substrate plated with the electrodes on the top, so that the thermoelectric arms are electrically connected in series and thermally connected in parallel.

Preferably, when the temperature of water in the water pipe is higher than that of air at room temperature, the heat source is the water pipe through which hot water flows, the cold source is a heat exchange structure, and the heat exchange structure is used for heat dissipation; when the temperature of water in the water pipe is lower than that of air at room temperature, the cold source is the water pipe through which cold water flows, the heat source is a heat exchange structure in contact with the air at room temperature, the inner side of the flexible thermoelectric generation piece is closely attached to the outer side of the water pipe through a heat conduction interface material, and the outer side of the flexible thermoelectric generation piece is well connected with the heat exchange structure through the heat conduction interface material.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:

1. the flexible thermoelectric generation module is used for supplying power to the water meter, and the long-time power supply requirement of the intelligent water meter can be met under the condition that the battery does not need to be replaced.

2. Compared with the traditional ceramic flat plate thermoelectric generation module, the flexible thermoelectric generation module can increase the contact area between the power generation sheet and the cold end and the hot end, thereby improving the output power of the flexible thermoelectric generation module as much as possible, and meanwhile, the occupied volume is smaller, and the weight is lighter.

3. The flexible thermoelectric generation module is simpler to install and is suitable for water pipes with different pipe diameters.

4. Compared with a ceramic flat plate thermoelectric generation module, the flexible thermoelectric generation piece has better bending and impact resistance, and can resist the influence caused by falling impact and the like.

5. The flexible thermoelectric generation piece can keep inside lower thermal stress after many cold and hot circulations, compares in the rigidity thermoelectric generation piece of pottery, can keep the life of a longer time.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a flexible temperature differential energy harvesting module of the present invention as applied to an intelligent water meter;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a flexible thermoelectric power generation sheet of the present patent;

wherein, 1: a flexible substrate; 2: a p-type thermoelectric leg; 3: an n-type thermoelectric leg; 4: a heat exchange structure; 5: an insulated wire; 6: a water pipe; 7: a power management module; 8: a water meter body; 9: a water meter housing; 10: and an electrode.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention will be further described with reference to the following embodiments and accompanying drawings.

As shown in fig. 1, the present embodiment schematically discloses a flexible temperature difference energy obtaining module applied to an intelligent water meter, which includes a flexible temperature difference power generation sheet, a heat exchange structure 4, a power management module 7, and a cold and heat source. The flexible thermoelectric generation piece comprises an upper flexible substrate 1, a lower flexible substrate 1, a plurality of pairs of p-type thermoelectric arms 2 and n-type thermoelectric arms 3, electrodes 10 and an insulated lead 5. The power management module comprises a voltage boosting and stabilizing circuit and an energy storage circuit. The heat exchange structure 4 is used for absorbing or dissipating heat.

As shown in FIG. 2, the flexible thermoelectric power generation sheet is formed by plating electrodes 10 on a flexible substrate 1, connecting a plurality of pairs of p-type thermoelectric arms 2 and n-type thermoelectric arms 3 alternately arranged thereon, and connecting the flexible substrate 1 plated with the electrodes 10 on the top, so that the thermoelectric arms are electrically connected in series and thermally connected in parallel.

When the temperature of water in the water pipe is higher than room temperature air, the heat source is the water pipe 6 through which hot water flows, the cold source is the heat exchange structure 4, and the heat exchange structure is used for heat dissipation; when the temperature of water in the water pipe is lower than that of air at room temperature, the cold source is the water pipe 6 through which cold water flows, the heat source is the heat exchange structure 4 in contact with the air at room temperature, the inner side of the flexible thermoelectric generation piece is closely attached to the outer side of the water pipe through the heat conduction interface material, and the outer side of the flexible thermoelectric generation piece is well connected with the heat exchange structure through the heat conduction interface material.

The power management module 7 is divided into two parts, the temperature difference between water and air is small, so that the output voltage of the flexible thermoelectric power generation sheet is small, and the temperature of the water and the air is not a fixed value, so that the output voltage is changed along with the temperature difference, and therefore a voltage boosting and stabilizing circuit is needed; the energy storage circuit is designed to store energy under the condition of sufficient generated energy and release electric energy to send the energy to the system when the generated energy is insufficient.

When adding flexible thermoelectric generation piece both ends temperature different, can produce voltage at its both ends to there is the electric current to pass through thermoelectric generation piece, flows into power management module 7, can export comparatively stable power after carrying out the rectification, for the water gauge power supply.

When the flexible thermoelectric generation piece is in contact with the water pipe 6 and the heat exchange structure 4, in order to increase the heat conduction performance, interface heat conduction materials such as heat conduction silicone grease, heat conduction silicone adhesive and the like which have higher heat conductivity and can fill interface gaps are added in the middle.

The heat exchange structure 4 can be used for applying forced water cooling convection, forced air cooling convection and the like when the heat is radiated, or can be used for adopting radiating fins with different structures and different materials to carry out natural convection; when the heat exchange structure is used for absorbing heat, the heat exchange structure can be made of attached heat absorbing materials and the like, and the heat exchange structure can be a rigid or flexible structure.

The flexible thermoelectric power generation sheet shown in fig. 2, wherein the p-type thermoelectric arm 2 and the n-type thermoelectric arm 3 may be rectangular, or may be trapezoidal or have other deformed shapes, and the electrode 10 may be a metal with good flexibility, a liquid metal, or a polymer material with good electrical conductivity. The thermoelectric legs are typically encapsulated around with a flexible polymer.

The flexible temperature difference energy-obtaining module can be integrated with the water meter and can also be independent of the water meter and connected with the water meter body 8.

While there have been shown and described what are at present considered the fundamental principles of the invention, the essential features and advantages thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by the embodiments described above, which are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention, but rather, is capable of numerous changes and modifications in various forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, and it is intended that the invention be limited not by the foregoing descriptions, but rather by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Furthermore, it should be understood that although the present description refers to embodiments, not every embodiment may contain only a single embodiment, and such description is for clarity only, and those skilled in the art should integrate the description, and the embodiments may be combined as appropriate to form other embodiments understood by those skilled in the art.