Intelligent control can save a large portion of heating energy if the heating output is provided depending on the time of day or presence of people. Today, thermostatic heads that work with batteries are available on the market.

A fully self-sufficient heating valve prototype, developed in cooperation with Zehnder Group AG, Gränichen, uses a thermoelectric generator (TEG) and an optimized booster for energy harvesting. The energy collected on the radiator under typical operating conditions is sufficient to operate the system self-sufficiently, and the radiator valve can be opened or closed completely every 5 minutes.

A unique feature of the solution we have developed is the possibility of operating thermal energy harvesting even at low temperature differences of less than 3 °C. We have developed a highly efficient booster for applications with TEGs for very low input voltages. At 40 mV input voltage or 3 °C temperature difference at the TEG, the booster achieves an efficiency of 62 % at 3.6 V output voltage and delivers 802 W.