Patent ID: 7466240

Claim:
An apparatus for sensing a condition of a system, the apparatus comprising: an energy-converter coupled to the system through an exhaust duct coupled to the system, the system performing a metal production or processing process in which a reaction yields a metal substance and generates waste energy in the form of a hot gas from operation of the process being sensed by the sensor, the hot gas being conveyed away from the process being performed in the system through the exhaust duct to the energy-converter, wherein the energy-converter is configured to generate thermoelectric energy from the waste energy in the form of hot gas; a sensor coupled to the system to sense a condition of the metal production or processing process; and a node coupled to the sensor and the energy-converter, wherein the node is powered by the thermoelectric energy generated and output from the energy converter, the node configured to receive information for the sensed condition of the metal production or processing process from the sensor.