Harvesting Wave Energy to Power Acoustic Transmitters Using Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Conference · Wed Apr 20 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2603879· OSTI ID:1886045

Yang, Yang ^[1]; Salalila, Marsobyn ^[1]; Jung, Hyunjun ^[1]; Lu, Jun ^[1]; Lai, Ying-Chih ^[2]; Deng, Zhiqun ^[1]

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1. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
2. National Chung Hsing University

Wave energy has the largest reserves and widest distribution among blue energy sources. However, the conversion and utilization of ocean wave energy are challenging. In this work, we developed a contact-separation mode triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with a simple structure for harvesting wave energy and powering marine sensors and transmitters and performed detailed electrical characterization under controlled laboratory conditions. A prototype power management circuit (PMC) was implemented to improve the output performance of the TENG. The output from the PMC could charge up a storage capacitor for powering sensors and electronics. Eventually, the TENG was integrated within a water-proof enclosure and tested using a custom-built wave simulator to evaluate the device performance in a more representative scenario. The device sustainably powered up an array of 27 LEDs and was able to charge up a capacitor up to 1.8 V for driving an acoustic transmitter. The results demonstrate that TENG technology shows great promise in harvesting low-frequency ocean wave energy.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1886045
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-170945
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English