This tiny device can scavenge wind energy from the breeze you make when
you walk

Date:
September 23, 2020
Source:
Cell Press
Summary:
Most of the wind available on land is too gentle to push commercial
wind turbine blades, but now researchers have designed a kind of
'tiny wind turbine' that can scavenge wind energy from breezes as
little as those created by a brisk walk. The method is a low-cost
and efficient way of collecting light breezes as a micro-energy
source.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Most of the wind available on land is too gentle to push commercial wind turbine blades, but now researchers in China have designed a kind of
"tiny wind turbine" that can scavenge wind energy from breezes as little
as those created by a brisk walk. The method, presented September 23 in
the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, is a low-cost and efficient
way of collecting light breezes as a micro-energy source.


==========================================================================
The new device is not technically a turbine. It is a nanogenerator made
of two plastic strips in a tube that flutter or clap together when there
is airflow.

Like rubbing a balloon to your hair, the two plastics become electrically charged after being separated from contact, a phenomenon called the triboelectric effect. But instead of making your hair stand up like
Einstein's, the electricity generated by the two plastic strips is
captured and stored.

"You can collect all the breeze in your everyday life," says senior
author Ya Yang of Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "We once placed our nanogenerator on a person's arm,
and a swinging arm's airflow was enough to generate power." A breeze
as gentle as 1.6 m/s (3.6 mph) was enough to power the triboelectric nanogenerator designed by Yang and his colleagues. The nanogenerator
performs at its best when wind velocity is between 4 to 8 m/s (8.9 to 17.9 mph), a speed that allows the two plastic strips to flutter in sync. The
device also has a high wind-to-energy conversion efficiency of 3.23%,
a value that exceeds previously reported performances on wind energy scavenging. Currently, the research team's device can power up 100 LED
lights and temperature sensors.

"Our intention isn't to replace existing wind power generation
technology. Our goal is to solve the issues that the traditional wind
turbines can't solve," says Yang. "Unlike wind turbines that use coils
and magnets, where the costs are fixed, we can pick and choose low-cost materials for our device. Our device can also be safely applied to nature reserves or cities because it doesn't have the rotating structures."
Yang says he has two visions for the project's next steps: one small
and one big. In the past, Yang and his colleagues have designed a
nanogenerator as small as a coin, but he wants to make it even tinier
and more compact with higher efficiency. In the future, Yang and his
colleagues would like to combine the device to small electronic devices
such as phones, to provide sustainable electric power.

But Yang is also looking to make the device bigger and more powerful. "I'm hoping to scale up the device to produce 1,000 watts, so it's competitive
with traditional wind turbines," he says. "We can place these devices
where traditional wind turbines can't reach. We can put it in the
mountains or on the top of buildings for sustainable energy."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cell_Press. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Xin Chen, Xingchen Ma, Weiwei Ren, Lingxiao Gao, Shan Lu, Daqiao
Tong,
Fayang Wang, Yu Chen, Yi Huang, Hao He, Baoping Tang, Jiajia
Zhang, Xiaoqing Zhang, Xiaojing Mu, Ya Yang. A Triboelectric
Nanogenerator Exploiting the Bernoulli Effect for Scavenging Wind
Energy. Cell Reports Physical Science, 2020; 1 (9): 100207 DOI:
10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100207 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923124720.htm

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