Self-powered wind sensor based on triboelectric nanogenerator for detecting breeze vibration on electric transmission lines

Overhead transmission lines are susceptible to ambient wind and are easily damaged by long-term breeze vibration. Self-powered systems based on triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) provide a way to monitor ambient wind conditions over long distances at any time. In this work, a wind monitoring TENG (WM-TENG) is proposed to match the natural environmental conditions that tend to cause breeze vibrations. Non-contact electrostatic induction is applied to avoid abrasion caused by rigid surface contact. The ambient wind speed and wind direction posed on transmission lines are monitored by the top and bottom part of WM-TENG, respectively. Cooperated with our home-designed program, the WM-TENG is used to record and analyze the accumulated duration caused by breeze vibration on transmission lines. This design expands the applications of TENG on transmission lines, and is expected to be applied in long-distance power grids.