Triboelectric effect based self-powered compact vibration sensor for predictive maintenance of industrial machineries

Abstract

This article showcases a compact self-powered contact-mode triboelectric (TE) phenomenon-based vibration sensor for predictive maintenance of industrial machinery. The sensor has a suspended proof-mass that oscillates under external vibration and causes contact-separation between Teflon and zinc oxide (ZnO) films creating tribo signals, which are used for both sensing and powering mechanisms. For these sensors to be implemented in real-time applications, the sensor must be cost-effective, reliable, and repeatable. Hence, the active layer (ZnO film) is fabricated by an efficient process of microwave-assisted thermal decomposition followed by the established screen printing method. The sensor operates up to 400 Hz and is highly robust with no significant decay in signal strength even after 120 000 cycles tested at elevated stress values. The device produces a maximum voltage (V) of ±30 V, short circuit current of ±3 µA, and can deliver a maximum power density of 0.5 W m −2 , at 8 MΩ load resistance. In the frequency domain, the device generates a maximum V at 55 Hz and can charge 1 µF capacitor to 3.5 V in 25 s. To demonstrate the functionality of the sensor in a real application, it is implemented on a lab-scale vacuum pump to capture the system faults by analyzing the harmonic signatures. Thus, in this article, we have showcased end-to-end development of the sensor from material synthesis to device testing along with its signal processing techniques and proved that the sensor can readily be implemented in industrial environments as is. This article thus emphasis bridging the lab-to-market gap for TE devices as a self-powering sensor.

Self-powering vibration sensor based on a cantilever system with a single-electrode mode triboelectric nanogenerator

“…The film obtained is 7 µm thick and inherently contains grass-like morphology. Further details can be found in the earlier report [24]. The adhesive in the copper facilitates assembling the ZnO film onto the acrylic cover.…”

Vibration Converter with Passive Energy Management for Battery-Less Wireless Sensor Nodes in Predictive Maintenance

“…Continuous data measurement and transmission were considered to identify the complete working cycle of the node in a normal scenario. To do so, an accurate energy measurement is necessary to characterize the wireless module, which can be generalized according to the consumed current in each state, which is defined in Equation (6).…”

“…For thermoelectric sources, several research works have shown that the conversion efficiency is very limited [4,5]. To this end, the vibration source is most promising in industrial applications due to its presence in machines and its relatively high energy density [6]. In this case, several principles can be used to harvest energy from vibration, including electrostatic [7,8], piezoelectric [9,10], electromagnetic [11,12], and magnetoelectric [13,14] principles.…”

“…In this case, several principles can be used to harvest energy from vibration, including electrostatic [7,8], piezoelectric [9,10], electromagnetic [11,12], and magnetoelectric [13,14] principles. Electromagnetic converters are the most considered in industrial applications due to their robustness, relatively relevant energy output, and their ease of integration compared to the other principles [6]. The main challenge for electromagnetic converters is generating relevant energy outcomes from weak vibration sources with low acceleration limited to 0.1 g to 0.2 g and low frequencies up to 30 Hz.…”

Economical Polypropylene‐Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Self‐Powered Biomechanical Sensor Application

“…[13] The key to improving the output efficiency of TENG depends on the parameters, which are the choice of tribal-active materials, surface charge density, and the device structure. [14][15][16][17] In general, the materials such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), nylon, polyimide (PI), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are the most conventional triboelectric materials used in TENG, but these are relatively expensive. Another key parameter is increasing surface charge density, which can be achieved through techniques such as plasma processing, [18] ion injection, [19] chemical treatment, [20] freeze-drying, [21] sputtering, [22] and electrospinning, [23] which are time-consuming, need expensive equipment and complicated procedures.…”