Self-Powered Wind Sensor Based on Triboelectric Generator with Curved Flap Array for Multi-Directional Wind Speed Detection

This paper reports a self-powered sensor for detecting wind speed and direction using triboelectric nanogenerator with a curved flap array. The sensor comprises a radial array of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/Al flaps rolled up in different directions and polytetrafluoroethylene/Cu substrate. The curved flaps are simply fabricated through plastic deformation of PET/Al film. When the wind blows, the curved flap can be easily deformed, and thus the contact area between the flap and the substrate changes. The change in the contact area enables the flap to generate voltage via triboelectrification. Experimental results confirm that the voltage generated from the flap increases as the wind speed increases. We demonstrated that our sensor can detect both the wind speed and direction simultaneously based on the difference of the output voltage of the flaps. The proposed wind sensor has great potential in self-sustainable environmental monitoring applications.