Harvesting the aeolian vibration energy of transmission lines using an omnidirectional broadband triboelectric nanogenerator in smart grids

Abstract

The aeolian vibration of transmission lines converts the abundant wind energy at high altitudes into vibration energy. Distributed vibration energy harvesters can supply independent energy for line monitoring systems. To accommodate the randomness of aeolian vibration in direction and frequency, an omnidirectional broadband triboelectric nanogenerator (ODB-TENG) is proposed, analyzed, fabricated, and tested as a vibration energy harvester. The harvester mainly comprises a shaft, a shell, four guide sliders, and three triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) units. The guide sliders prevent axial rotation between the shell and shaft. The omnidirectional vibrations of the transmission line are thus transformed into the contact frictions of triboelectric layers. An equilateral triangle geometric constraint is formed between the shell and shaft. This constraint ensures that the triboelectric motion has the same frequency as the excitation vibration, providing a broadband characteristic for the ODB-TENG. The key parameters and technical performance of a full-scale prototype were investigated. The RMS current span for multi-directional excitation vibration is only 2.0 μA. The ODB-TENG exhibits a measured bandwidth of 4.3 Hz. The RMS values of power and voltage provided by the ODB-TENG are 4.02 mW and 109.8 V, respectively. The prototype was successfully applied to vibration and aviation warning systems as a renewable energy source, which is of great significance in smart grids.