Self-powered temperature-changing system driven by wind energy

Research on outdoor, mobile, and self-powered temperature-control devices has always been highly regarded. These devices can reduce energy consumption for cooling and heating, and they have broad market prospects. On this basis, a rotary disc-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with a maximum open-circuit voltage of 6913 V, a maximum short-circuit current of 85 μA, and a maximum transferred charge of 1.3 μC was prepared. We synthesized a ferroelectric ceramic composed of 0.15PbtI0.2−0.85PbsC0.5Ta0.5O3 (0.15PT-0.85PST), which exhibited excellent electrothermal effects at room temperature. By quenching, the electrothermal effect (Δ T_max) and energy harvesting properties of the device were 1.574 K and 0.542 J/cm³, respectively. Then, for the first time, we proposed a self-powered temperature quantification control system with a rotary disc-shaped TENG. This device effectively harvested wind and water energy, in addition to other types of energy. The system consisted of energy collecting cups, a rotating disc-shaped FEP-rabbit fur TENG, a circuit management module, and a ferroelectric ceramic chip array. Through the circuit management module, the system converted external wind energy into a high-voltage electric field at a speed of 200 rpm. The temperature change in the insulated cup in 276 s was 0.49 K, while the temperature of the insulated cup was 300 K. Consequently, the cooling and heating times were both reduced by 31%, and the temperature changes for both cooling and heating increased by 81%. Moreover, the heating and cooling temperatures of the device optimized on this basis were increased to 1.19 K and 0.93 K, respectively. The great improvement in the temperature variation performance demonstrated the great potential of the device for commercialization. This research could serve as a reference for reducing energy consumption for cooling and heating, and it meets the international energy policies of carbon dioxide emission peaking and carbon neutrality.

Jiayu Li, Boxun Liu, Mingyang Li, Yahui Li, Wangyang Ding, Guanlin Liu, Jun Luo, Nan Chen, Lingyu Wan, Wenjian Wei