Pilots - tixonenergy

Pilot Sites Installations

The ARGO system design started in 2008. Considering its principle of operation (see the technology or architecture pages) it is not easy to test the systems in a lab, due to the high currents and voltages actually found in the real application environment. Tixon Energy had the opportunity to test its prototypes in several field installations, where the operational principles of several potential applications have been demonstrated. In the below image a phase of installation of the ARGO pilot test plant executed by group of technicians in the maintenance of electrical towers.

Field test 1 - IR monitoring

The goal of this installation (located in the south of Italy) was verifying the possibility to use the ARGO energy scavenger and power supply to create an nfrared Monitoring systems, with applications both in infrastructure monitoring and surveillance of the territory surrounding the power lines towers. The IR camera was mounted at the bottom of one of the containers attached to the tower. The captured images were sent to a central test monitoring site and stored for future reference/analysis

Field Test 2 - wireless Internet connectivity

As better explained in the applications page, one of the services enabled by the ARGO scavenger is the creation of wireless backbones along the power lines.
In the second field test installation (located in Liguria) two prototypes of the ARGO systems were installed on two towers of the same power lines, in line of sight with each other. Both systems were also equipped with a 2G modem in order to have a double (redundant) access to the Internet. In the four month test period (during which the system never ran out of power and the battery was fully charged for most of the time) a large amount of data about the correlation between the current flowing in the power line and the power used to charge the battery and to keep the service electronics (wireless routers, modems, sensors and cameras) alive was collected.

Field test 3 - Environmental Monitoring

Environmental monitoring provides information particularly useful when renewable energy is involved, due to the strong correlation between the performance of renewable generators (PV, wind etc) and the weather conditions.
In our third pilot installation (located in Campania, in the south of Italy), several professional weather stations have been installed on as many power line pylons, powered by the ARGO scavenger / power supply.
An embedded system was included in the service electronics, with a 3G modem to collect data from the station and other sensors and send it to a central database.
The test, carried out in 2012, remained in service throughout all summer season with very variable weather conditions, showing no critical issues related to the harsh operational conditions.