A novel self-powered triboelectric sensor for early waring of lubrication failure

In tribology, maintaining good lubrication of friction pairs is an important technical means to reduce wear and failure, which is very important but difficult to monitor the lubrication state of friction pairs. In this paper, when measuring the thickness and shape of the lubricating oil film by the ball-disk elastohydrodynamic oil film measuring instrument, a current amplifier is integrated to measure the electrical signal generated during the friction process. By monitoring the change of lubricating oil film, the change of ball-disk friction force, and the change of triboelectric signal during the friction process in real time, the relationship between the tribological behavior and the triboelectric behavior of the friction pair is explored. The experimental results show that under the conditions of limited oil supply, different rotational speeds and different lubricating oil viscosities, the time of the discharge phenomenon of the steel ball corresponds one-to-one with the time when the friction pair starts to wear under oil-scarce lubrication. The discharge occurs due to the electric charge breaking through the air in the micro-gap of the wear scar. The results demonstrate that the formation of the oil-depleted state has an important influence on the triboelectric process. Based on the relationship between the two, the state of the lubricating oil can be reflected in real time by using the triboelectric signal, which provides a reliable method for the real-time monitoring of the lubrication state.