Research on a vortex-induced vibration monitoring sensor technology based on triboelectric nanogenerator

Vortex induced vibration is the main cause of fatigue damage in underwater structures, and monitoring of underwater structures is to ensure their safety. There is a lack of an underwater power supply system, and the cylindrical structure often experiences irregular vibrations, limiting traditional vibration monitoring. This article proposes a particle type vibration monitoring sensor for vibration monitoring. The experiment discussed the self-powering and motion capture of RF-TENG under different particle diameters, filling ratios, and vibration modes, obtaining the following conclusions: (1) Particle diameter and filling ratio affect the vibration monitoring capability, and the influencing mechanism is related to the agglomeration effect. A container with a diameter of 111 mm has better overall performance when selecting a particle diameter of 15 mm (2) Both voltage and current have the ability to monitor cylinder displacement vibration, but voltage is better. Filtering can eliminate low-frequency noise, but high-frequency noise is relatively difficult. (3) When the filling rate is between 50 % and 70 %, the sensor can capture more than 90 mW/m2 of energy in the upper branch, while possessing motion capture and self powered performance. The results verified the feasibility of RF-TENG as a self powered vibration monitoring sensor, providing a new approach for underwater structural monitoring.