GOLDFISH Detection of Watercourse Contamination in Developing countries using Sensor

Networks – Enlarged

There is an evident need for monitoring pollutants and/or other environmental

conditions in river flows via wireless sensor networks. In a typical wireless sensor

network topography, a series of sensor nodes is to be deployed in the environment, all

wirelessly connected to each other and/or their gateways. The Faculty of Engineering

of the University of Rijeka, Croatia, together with 11 partnering institutions from the

academic and the industrial sectors from Austria, Bolivia, Columbia, Croatia, France,

Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Vietnam, is working on this particular goal in the frame

of the EU FP7 research project "GOLDFISH - Detection of Watercourse Contamination

in Developing Countries using Sensor Networks - Enlarged". The project is worth about

2.6 million Euros, of which about 150’000 are dedicated to the activities of the

Faculty of Engineering of Rijeka.

In the course of the work on the GOLDFISH project, advanced computing

communication tools have been successfully developed and tested in wireless networks

of innovative self-cleaning bio-chemical sensors. The topography of sensors’ disposition

was optimized. On the other hand, the Faculty of Engineering of Rijeka (RITEH) team

has investigated the possibility to use three different small-scale river flow energy

harvesting principles to power the foreseen sensor nodes: a miniaturized underwater

turbine, a so-called ‘piezoelectric eel’ and a hybrid turbine solution coupled with a

rigid piezoelectric beam. Thorough modelling and calculations were performed to

optimize the design of the foreseen harvesting devices. The first two concepts were

then successfully validated experimentally in laboratory as well as in real river

conditions (Rječina, Croatia). The miniaturized hydro-generator was then inserted into

the wireless sensor node system and its functionality was confirmed (Lievec, Poland). A

suitable energy management electronics was also successfully developed and tested in

real operation. The developed hydro-generator and its energy management

electronics are embedded into the final configuration of the complete wireless system

aimed at tracking pollution in remote watercourses using sensor network technology,

and successfully tested in the Coello river in Colombia.

University of Rijeka, Faculty of Engineering,

Vukovarska 58, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Centre for Micro and Nano Sciences and Technologies,

Radmile Matejčić 2, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Phone: ++385 51 651 538 (prof. Saša Zelenika)

Fax: ++385 51 651 416

Email: sasa.zelenika@riteh.hr URL: precenglab.riteh.uniri.hr, www.cmnzt.uniri.hr

Our contacts

Dissemination of project results …

The project …

1. Kamenar, Ervin; Maćešić, Senka; Gregov, Goran; Blažević, David; Zelenika,

Saša; Marković, Kristina; Glažar, Vladimir. Autonomous solutions for powering

wireless sensor nodes in rivers. // Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society

for Optical Engineering. 9517A (2015) ; 9517-34-1-9517-34-13.

2. Blažević, David; Zelenika, Saša. Nonlinear numerical modelling and

experimental validation of multilayer piezoelectric vibration energy scavengers.

// Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering. 9517A

(2015) ; 9517-47-1-9517-47-13.

3. Kamenar, Ervin; Gregov, Goran; Zelenika, Saša; Blažević, David; Marković,

Kristina; Glažar, Vladimir. Experimental characterization of a miniaturized

underwater hydro-generator energy harvester // Proceedings of the 15th

EUSPEN International Conference, Leuven (B), 2015.

4. Kamenar, Ervin; Maćešić, Senka; Blažević, David; Gregov, Goran; Zelenika,

Saša; Marković, Kristina; Glažar, Vladimir. Piezoelectric eels for powering

pollution monitoring wireless sensor networks in watercourses // Proceedings of

the 15th EUSPEN International Conference, Leuven (B), 2015.

5. Kamenar, Ervin; Gregov, Goran; Zelenika, Saša; Blažević, David; Marković,

Kristina. Miniaturized underwater hydro generator for powering wireless sensor

network nodes // Proceedings 24th International Congress "Energy and the

Environment" 2014 / Franković, Bernard (ed.). Opatija (HR), 2014, 171-181.

6. Kamenar, Ervin; Zelenika, Saša; Blažević, David; Šamanić, Ivan. River flow

energy harvesting by employing piezoelectric eels // Proc. 14th EUSPEN

International Conference - Vol. 1/Leach, R. (ed.). Dubrovnik (HR), 2014, 63-66.

7. Blažević, David; Zelenika, Saša. Numerical modelling of piezoelectric

vibration energy scavenging bimorphs // Proc. 14th EUSPEN International

Conference - Vol. 1 / Leach, R. (ur.). Dubrovnik (HR), 2014. 389-392.

8. Maćešić S.; Penalty immersed boundary method in piezoelectric eel models;

PDEs, Continuum Mechanics and Numerical Analysis – Conference in Honor of

80th Anniversary of prof. Ibrahim Aganović; Dubrovnik (HR), 2014.

The work is supported by the EU FP7 ICT-2009.9.1 project no. 269985 “GOLDFISH – Detection of Watercourse Contamination in Developing countries using Sensor Networks – Enlarged”.

Figure 1: Proposed principles: hydro-generator (a), piezoelectric eel (b) ‘plucked’ piezoelectric beam (c)

management electronics (d)

Figure 2. Experiments in the flow tunnel at the Naval Research Institute in Zagreb, Croatia: hydrogenerator (a)

piezoelectric eel (b) mounting of the piezoelectric eel and „bluff body” (c)

Figure 4. River experiments: system’s electronics with integrated management electronics (a), experiments at

the Lievec river, Poland (b) and experiments in the Rječina river, Croatia (c)

The Rijeka project team is constituted by:

Prof. Saša Zelenika ab - leader of the RITEH GoldFish project partner

prof. Senka Maćešić a

Dr. David Blažević ab

Dr. Goran Gregov a

Dr. Vladimir Glažar a

Dr. Kristina Marković ab

Ervin Kamenar ab

a University of Rijeka, Faculty of Engineering B Centre for Micro and Nano Sciences and Technologies

RITEH team members

Figure 3. Numerical simulations: dynamics of the piezoelectric eel (a), numerically modelled plucking

solution (b) and transient response of plucking solution (c)