By Steve Bush 18th August 2022
Researchers from Chung-Ang University in Korea have developed a harvester that collects energy from breath in a gas mask, and have used it to power a harmful gas sensor.
Researchers from Chung-Ang University in Korea have developed a harvester that collects energy from breath in a gas mask, and have used it to power a harmful gas sensor.
The harvester is a form of teng (tribo-electric nano-generator, explained at the bottom here) that use motion and electric charge to cause an ac current in an external circuit. This one relies on the fluttering of a thin structure for motion.
“Our lab is interested in high-power teng design and teng-based self-powered sensors,” said Chung-Ang researcher Sangmin Lee. “Film-flutter tengs are respiration-driven devices that can generate a continuous electrical output from an extremely small respiration input by exploiting the flutter phenomenon arising from airflow-induced vibrations.”
In this case, the generator composed of an aluminium inlet electrode (see diagram), a polyimide dielectric elastic sheet, and an aluminium outlet electrode.
The elastic sheet has four slits, creating four segments which flutter in the air flow.
According to the university, it “generated a continuous high-frequency 17V and a closed-circuit current of 1.84μA during inhalation, and an electrostatic discharge voltage of 456V and closed-circuit output current of 288mA at the beginning and end of every inspiratory cycle.” It could also charge a 660μF capacitor over a few seconds to periodically power a Bluetooth tracker to signal to a smartphone.
As a proof-of-concept, to broadcast the position of the wearer, the electrostatic 456V and 288mA were used to power 130 LEDs in series or 140 in parallel. Electronics Weekly has requested further information on this.
Chung-Ang University worked with Yonsei University, The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the South Korean Agency for Defense Development.
The work is in Advanced Energy Materials as ‘Inhalation-driven vertical flutter triboelectric nanogenerator with amplified output as a gas-mask-integrated self-powered multifunctional system
Tagged with: energy harvesting generator nano triboelectric
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