Sustainable self-sensing railway wind-blossom with sealed hybrid nanogenerator

The development of smart railways demands advanced Internet of Railway Things (IoRT) systems, with a major challenge being the power supply remote IoRT nodes. One approach is to integrate wind energy harvesters into wind barriers in high-wind regions, achieving both wind protection and energy harvesting. This study introduces Wind-Blossom (WB), a wind energy harvester in railway barriers for wind protection, energy harvesting, and wind self-sensing. The goal is to enable a long-term IoRT system for monitoring railway conditions. The WB design features an Archimedean spiral rotor and wind-lens for efficient wind energy harvesting and wind mitigation. It incorporates electromagnetic and triboelectric nanogenerators for power generation and self-sensing. A combination of simulation and Taguchi's analysis method was used to optimize the rotor design, guiding the fabrication of an efficient prototype. Wind tunnel tests showed an output power of 3.63 W and an RMS voltage of 143 V, validating its potential as a power source. A self-sensing wind speed monitoring system was developed based on triboelectric signals, providing accurate real-time monitoring. The device's reliability was confirmed under harsh conditions. A long-term wide-area IoRT system was implemented across multiple locations for several days. This study demonstrates the multifunctional potential of Wind-Blossom for wind protection, energy harvesting, wind speed monitoring, and IoRT, paving the way for commercialization.