Triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid generator with the inertia-driven conversion mechanism for wind energy harvesting and scale warning

The natural wind is an important factor for agricultural production, which can be used as a clean energy supply for agricultural sensors, but excessive wind speed will destroy crops and agricultural facilities. To efficiently harvest wind energy and further wind scale warning, a triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid generator based on the inertia-driven conversion mechanism (IDCM-TEHG) is proposed in this paper. As the wind speed increases, the inertia-driven conversion mechanism controlled by the centrifugal force drives the multi-grade triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) units and the electromagnetic generator (EMG) unit to operate in sequence in the IDCM-TEHG. This structural design method enables the IDCM-TEHG not only to enhance the harvest capacity of wind energy by power dynamic matching but also to distinguish wind scales by the output signals of different grades. Experiments show that the peak power of the IDCM-TEHG increases from 0.02 to 29.59 mW when the wind speed increases from 4.5 to 13.0 m/s, and the power growth rate is 164 and 5 times that of the normal TENG and EMG. In the practical demonstration, the IDCM-TEHG can power wireless sensors and realize wind scale warning, which will contribute to the rapid development of smart agriculture.