Rotary Wind-driven Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Self-Powered Airflow Temperature Monitoring of Industrial Equipment

Heat dissipation performance is crucial for the operational reliability of industrial equipment, which can be monitored by detecting the wind or airflow temperature of the radiator. The emergence of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provides new routes for wind energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. Herein, a rotary wind-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (RW-TENG) with soft-contact working mode is newly designed to achieve tunable contact areas by utilizing the reliable thermal response of NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) to air/wind temperature. The RW-TENG can generate different triboelectric outputs under air stimulation with different speeds or temperatures, which is demonstrated as a power source for online monitoring sensors, self-powered wind speed sensing, and airflow temperature monitoring. Specifically, a self-powered sensor of wind speed is demonstrated with a sensitivity of 0.526 mu A m-1 s between 2.2 and 19.6 m s-1, and a self-powered monitoring device of high airflow temperature, which show relatively short response time (109 s), strong anti-interference ability and outstanding long-term durability. This study introduces an innovative route for real-time detection of airflow temperature in wind-cooled industrial equipment, showing broad application prospects for information perception and intelligent sensing of the industrial IoTs. A rotary wind-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (RW-TENG) is designed with tunable rotator area by incorporating NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA). The soft-contact strategy delivers multifunctional applications to RW-TENG, including power source, self-powered wind speed sensor, and airflow temperature monitor. Airflow temperature sensing of oil-immersed transformer radiator is demonstrated, bringing a new route for intelligent operation of next-generation smart industrial equipment.image