PsiKick, the company pioneering wireless, batteryless Internet of Things (IoT) systems, today announced it has partnered with Thermaxx, to jointly deliver smart, IoT-based industrial steam system monitoring and energy efficiency solutions.

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Image: PsiKick and Thermaxx partner on smart steam system solution. Photo courtesy of Alexander Stein from Pixabay.

Thermaxx specializes in designing and manufacturing custom removable insulation covers for commercial and industrial insulation applications.

Uninsulated steam systems and steam trap failure leads to significant energy waste, downtime, and potential safety hazards. Thermaxx will integrate PsiKick’s batteryless sensor system into its Smart Jackets, delivering an all-in-one solution for insulation, measurement and verification, and real-time steam trap failure detection. The solution provides instant energy savings by retaining what would normally be waste heat, while also alerting facility operators to failed steam traps that would otherwise purge steam energy until the next manual inspection. PsiKick’s sensors stream data via an IoT gateway every 60 seconds to its cloud interface, where that data is analyzed to determine trap-state and generate real-time alerts and notifications.

The combined solution also handles the measurement and verification process to prove out energy savings so that facilities can receive energy efficiency rebates and incentives. In total, the two companies quote a less-than-one-year payback for the solution, with tens of thousands of dollars or more in annual savings thereafter.

“Many facilities already depend on Thermaxx’s insulation jackets to save energy and money; by switching to our batteryless sensor technology, these customers can now realize even more savings with a truly maintenance-free real-time monitoring solution,” said Brian Alessi of PsiKick. “We’re pleased to be working with Thermaxx and look forward to seeing this partnership grow.”

“Energy conservation is key to our customers when installing our Smart Jacket insulation blankets, but they have also asked for more information about the components our jackets are covering. To be able to deliver that without adding the maintenance headache of battery replacement is an ideal situation,” said Philip Johns, CEO of Thermaxx. “The PsiKick STM system is entirely synergistic to our products and becomes a great way to add value for our clients. We’ve already installed the PsiKick STM into large sites in Manhattan and look forward to continued success with the product.”

Dan Pugliese, Vice President of Engineering at Hines in New York, emphasized that “the technology plays right into our corporate goals of implementing telemetry driven maintenance where applicable. Now only are we now providing thermal insulation to devices that we didn’t do before, but also providing technology that alerts us to failures. We are looking to implement this product nationally.”

Traditional thermal insulation can become damaged over time, so Thermaxx provides removable insulation jacket to insulate steam system components that are periodically inspected or repaired. The removable insulation jackets help reduce energy waste, improve workplace safety, employee comfort, and facility appearance.

PsiKick’s proprietary batteryless sensors are powered exclusively from miniscule amounts of harvested energy. For example, two degrees Celsius temperature differences or 100 Lux (less than that of most dimly lit facilities) can generate all the power required for PsiKick’s devices to measure, process, and wirelessly transmit data.

 

Source: Company Press Release.