Cool-Earth is an innovative application of an ancient practice for cooling water rural sub-saharan Africa, based on evaporative cooling. This project demonstrates the technical feasibility report validated with an aesthetic model and a technical design of an optimised evaporative cooling system validated by instrumented demonstrator that will facilitate a refined concept with commercially relevant ancillaries.

Project summary We have developed and are selling a waste water monitoring system into the Norwegian market. Located under a manhole cover, in an underground chamber, it measures the depth of waste water (sewerage) flowing beneath. In a sewer system for a city the size of Oslo (population of approximately 1,000,000), 400 devices provide basic network coverage. For better granularity, around 1,000 units are required. Each device RF transmits an update to the stakeholder's server every 15 minutes. Depth data alone provides the user with an insight on network performance. EMD supplied 1st production units September 2021, the remaining deployments will begin in August 2022\. We have identified an issue with the units -- depth data alone does not provide a full picture to the user. Augmenting depth with velocity data has advantages. Depth + velocity + pipe diameter = volume in metres³/second. Enhancing the data by this means provides the user (usually a municipality or water company) with a very clear picture of network conditions, and - most critically - what headroom is left in the system; a system to which greater stress is being applied by climatic change. Heavy rainfall, thawing snow are common events. Their regularity and severity have been exacerbated by our changing climate, leading to the worst situation a water provider can face -- raw sewerage overflowing back onto the street. Discussions with existing and new customers confirm that sewer volume data has more value than depth alone. There is a ready market in Norway for another 1,000 units in the next 24 months.

Background: EMD has been working with a Norwegian company for some time, developing a moisture activated sensor with an RF transmitter. The BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) RF transmitter is powered by a salt water battery. When moisture ingresses the battery housing, it comes into contact with a very dry salt impregnated separator between the anode and cathode. Once whetted, the battery starts producing energy, sufficient to power the transmitter for around 1,000 advertisements, (transmissions) over a 20-minute period. Bearing in mind a smart phone BLE receiver checks for new advertisements 5 times per second, it is most unlikely that a warning transmission will be missed. In the primary application, the system provides a warning signal to stakeholders when a tyre is worn close to the legal limit. In the secondary application, it provides the warning signal when damp has reached the unit, which is placed in a location which should remain dry. Deployments are likely in domestic, rented and office buildings, wind generators, oil rigs, dry cargo carriers. This is a challenging project - we have identified core issues which must be addressed before we can realise products. The A4I competition provides a means by which UK based SME's can access 'best in class' support. EMD will be supported by The NPL (National Physical Laboratory), who will undertake measurement and analytical tasks, which we alone could not do.

This project will develop, produce and test a viable, future-proofed battery replacement Energy Harvest (EH) system for potable water monitoring applications. Like all water providers, Severn Trent Water (STW) must be compliant with Ofwat’s ever-reducing water leakage target. Regular monitoring of water flow and pressure identifies new leaks, STW used to transmit flow and pressure data twice per day. To maintain compliance STW has recently replaced 10,000+ battery powered loggers on their pipe system. The new loggers transmit 48 times per day. At this level, the batteries last 5 years. 80% of the drain on the battery is the GPRS transmission of data. The replacement cost of batteries every 5 years is £2 million for STW, £20 million for UK water as a whole*. There exists a very clear imperative for an EH system capable of sustaining the current level of data transmissions and higher levels too as leakage targets tighten. To achieve a sensible saving for water companies, the EH system must last a minimum of 15 years in service. Leak detection targets will fall twice in this period, so the system must be capable of supporting the greater system demand.

Piezotag Ltd is at the forefront of EH (Energy Harvesting) development in the UK. In order to maintain this position, the company wishes to develop an electronic sensing tool to assist with optimisation of piezo-electric elements with ambient vibration frequencies and amplitudes experienced in real-world scenarios. This application crosses over two headings in the competition scope document, Advanced Materials (Energy Harvesting) and Sensors (Intelligence and Optimised Control). This is not blue-sky R&D; we have three immediate and specific uses for the tool. 1:- automotive as a tyre footprint analytical tool. 2:- Utilities, optimising energy harvest from the flow of drinking water. 3:- optimising energy harvest from the flow of gas in domestic supply.