Energy harvesting from fluid flow for autonomous actuators

This project aims at building a triboelectric generator to be inserted in a pipe in order to harvest fluid flow energy.

Different energy sources can be considered to power systems in indoor environments such as light, heat, and motion. The EnviroMEMS group headed by Danick Briand at Microsystems for Space Technology Laboratory (LMTS) is developing triboelectric generators to harvest energy from mechanical movement.

Triboelectric generator is based on triboelectric effect which occurs when two dissimilar materials come in to contact. Opposite electrical charges are appearing on the two surfaces and can be collected using electrically conductive electrodes. The principle has been applied to harvest energy from, among others, body movements, wind and water waves.

The objective of this collaborative project between Sonceboz and LMTS is to develop triboelectric generators to harvest energy flow from fluids circulating in pipes. The work will consist in reviewing some potential implementation concepts and architectures to define the most promising approaches. An experimental test bench including pipe, fluid flow and electrical recording will be setup for their characterization.

This six months project is carried out at the LMTS in collaboration with Sonceboz.

Principal investigator Dr Danick Briand
Sponsor Sonceboz
Period 2017
Laboratory LMTS
Collaboration TRACE