Self-Powered Sensing for Non-Full Pipe Fluidic Flow Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Area of Science:

• Energy harvesting and sensor technology
• Fluid mechanics and pipeline engineering

Background:

• Accurate fluidic flow monitoring in non-full pipes is crucial for energy measurement and pipeline transportation.
• Existing methods often face limitations in large-scale pipeline applications, especially for non-full flow conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate a novel monitoring method for non-full pipe fluidic flow in large pipelines.
• To develop a triboelectric non-full pipe flow sensor (TNPFS) capable of simultaneous flow velocity and liquid level measurement.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a TNPFS utilizing triboelectric nanogenerators.
• Flow velocity monitoring via flexible blades generating periodic electrical signals with a linear frequency-velocity relationship.
• Liquid level monitoring using liquid-solid contact electrification with a variable area interdigital electrode on a polytetrafluoroethylene tube.

Main Results:

• The TNPFS successfully monitored flow velocities from 94 to 264 L/min with an error rate below 1.95%.
• A strong linear relationship was observed between the frequency of voltage signals and flow velocities.
• Liquid level was correlated with the peak number and trend of the voltage derivative curve.

Conclusions:

• The developed TNPFS provides an effective and novel solution for real-time fluidic flow monitoring in large, non-full pipelines.
• The sensor demonstrates good responsiveness, including in sewage, highlighting its practical applicability.
• This work advances non-full pipe flow monitoring techniques with a low-cost, high-performance triboelectric sensor.