Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs) for Smart Waste Management: An Energy Self-Sufficient Wireless Monitoring Platform for Smart Trash Bins

The widespread adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) devices faces significant challenges, particularly in the context of energy supply when using energy-intensive sensors or long-range data transmission technologies. This paper explores the use of Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs) to harvest energy from thermal gradients for powering an IoT device thought for a smart waste management application devoted to the trash bin filling monitoring. The proposed system integrates TEGs in a cast iron trash bin, leveraging the heat absorbed by the lid from solar radiation to power a low power wireless sensor node monitoring the waste level using an ultrasonic sensor and the temperature. The experimental results collected during two-weeks long outdoor field tests show an increasing trend of the battery voltage level thus demonstrating the positive energy balance. Consequently, the TEGs prove to efficiently harvest thermal energy from the trash bin itself, guaranteeing the system operation and thus ensuring its energy self-sufficiency.