Hackaday · Creativity & design

Garlic Peel Powers New Self-Powered Door Sensor

Researchers have developed a novel self-powered door and window sensor that utilizes the triboelectric effect, eliminating the need for traditional batteries or external power sources.

The sensor employs ground garlic peel as the positive component and polyethylene as the negative component in a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). When a door equipped with this sensor opens, it generates approximately 210 VAC with a 45 µA short circuit current. Using a dual layer of garlic peel increases the output to 400 VAC and 65 µA.

In its current implementation, the generated current powers a separate microcontroller running off a power bank to detect changes. The researchers suggest this power could potentially be used for low-power wireless communication, such as sending brief packets to a receiver.

The sensor demonstrated continued functionality after six months in storage and withstood 200 stress cycles, indicating promising durability for a potentially inexpensive device.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.