Ultra−Wide Range Vibration Frequency Detection Sensors Based on Elastic Steel Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Intelligent Machinery Monitoring

Vibration measurement and analysis play an important role in diagnosing mechanical faults, but existing vibration sensors are limited by issues such as dependence on external power sources and high costs. To overcome these challenges, the use of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)−based vibration sensors has recently attracted attention. These vibration sensors measure a small range of vibration frequencies and are not suitable for measuring high-frequency vibrations. Herein, a self-powered vibration sensor based on an elastic steel triboelectric nanogenerator (ES−TENG) is proposed. By optimizing the elastic steel sheet structure and combining time-frequency transformation and filtering processing methods, the measurement of medium- and high-frequency vibrations is achieved. These results demonstrate that the ES−TENG can perform vibration measurements in the range of 2–10,000 Hz, with a small average error (~0.42%) between the measured frequency and external vibration frequency values. Therefore, the ES−TENG can be used as a self-powered, highly-accurate vibration sensor for intelligent machinery monitoring.