Experimental and Analytical Investigation of the Response of a Triboelectric Generator Under Different Operating Conditions

This article provides experimental and theoretical studies on the effect of operating conditions on the output response of triboelectric generators. The influence of specific parameters is examined in detail, including vibration frequency, impact separation distance, and the type of adhesive between the dielectric and the electrode for a single dielectric layer device operating in contact-separation mode, with Teflon and copper being the dielectric and electrode materials, respectively. A scotch-yoke mechanism is designed and fabricated in an effort to understand the effect of varying the operating conditions on the output voltage behavior. The voltage output is compared with an analytical capacitor model at drive frequencies ranging from 1 to 5 Hz and separation distances from 5 to 40 mm to evaluate the model's effectiveness in predicting generator output. The experimental results provide new insights into the behavior of triboelectric generators and how the type of adhesive between the dielectric material and the electrode affects the output signal.