A novel interface circuit for triboelectric nanogenerator

Abstract

For most triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), the electric output should be a short AC pulse, which has the common characteristic of high voltage but low current. Thus it is necessary to convert the AC to DC and store the electric energy before driving conventional electronics. The traditional AC voltage regulator circuit which commonly consists of transformer, rectifier bridge, filter capacitor, and voltage regulator diode is not suitable for the TENG because the transformer’s consumption of power is appreciable if the TENG output is small. This article describes an innovative design of an interface circuit for a triboelectric nanogenerator that is transformerless and easily integrated. The circuit consists of large-capacity electrolytic capacitors that can realize to intermittently charge lithium-ion batteries and the control section contains the charging chip, the rectifying circuit, a comparator chip and switch chip. More important, the whole interface circuit is completely self-powered and self-controlled. Meanwhile, the chip is widely used in the circuit, so it is convenient to integrate into PCB. In short, this work presents a novel interface circuit for TENGs and makes progress to the practical application and industrialization of nanogenerators.

Electromagnetic–Triboelectric Hybridized Nanogenerators

“…Hence, the use of rectifiers, capacitors, transformers, diodes, and other electronic components to design necessary output circuits will help to improve the electrical performance of TENG. Based on the output characteristics of TENG, Wuqi Yu et al designed a new circuit for TENG [72]. They abandoned the utilization of transformers due to the fact that the output of the TENG is a high-voltage short pulse AC signal.…”