No abstract

Due to their simple structure, low cost, and self-powered characteristics, triboelectric nanogenerators are widely used in mechanical sensing fields. However, the existing investigations on triboelectric sensors mainly focus on a single friction type or material. In this paper, a triboelectric circular motion sensor with variable friction types (TCMS-VFT) is proposed. TCMS-VFT consists of a stator and a slider. Sliding, rolling, and sweeping friction between the slider and the stator can be achieved by replacing different types of sliders. The output characteristics, the durability of TCMS-VFT with different materials, structures, and friction types are systematically investigated. The experiment results show that TCMS-VFT with sliding friction has excellent output capability and stability. The service life of TCMS-VFT with a solid-block triboelectric layer can reach 200 000 revolutions (236.2 km) and 140 000 revolutions (165.34 km) under sliding friction and rolling friction, respectively. Compared to conventional films, this represents significant increase in durability. In particular, the service life of TCMS-VFT with sliding friction is increased by more than 30 times. The sensing experiments indicate that the accuracy of TCMS-VFT with sliding friction is better than that of the rolling friction and the sweeping friction, with an absolute error rate of less than 0.41% for velocity, an accuracy of ±0.42° for angular displacement. This paper can provide a guiding ideology and experimental basis for the structure design and practical application of triboelectric sensors.

Since circular motion becomes an important part of automated circulation equipment, a sliding triboelectric circular motion sensor (S‐TCMS) has been demonstrated to monitor the velocity and displacement of a circular motion. The S‐TCMS consists of the stator and slider, which is integrated with automated circular motion equipment for sensing applications. When the slider of PTFE grid slides between the stator's electrodes, four electrical signals are produced in the staggered electrode. The experimental results show that the voltage amplitude remains constant at different sliding velocities, showing good sensing stability. Also, this work proposes a real‐time hardware signal processing method, which converts the original S‐TCMS signal into two standard square wave signals. The method makes the sensing detection of S‐TCMS independent from electrostatic instrument and reduces the occupation of hardware resources. The sensing experimental results show that S‐TCMS can detect the velocity of circular motion with the maximum velocity deviation rate of less than 0.37%, the angular position sensing detection accuracy of 0.42°. The S‐TCMS shows good circular motion‐sensing characteristics after hardware signal processing.