Triboelectric harvester for sensor system in smart tires

The point where a car meets the ground and provides force and isolation is the tire. Estimation, sensing, and power harvesting are the three main areas of research in the field of tire condition monitoring systems (TCMS). The implementation of intelligent tires is highly advantageous for the reduction of disastrous accidents, CO2, and noise emissions, and also fuel consumption. Sensors mounted on the wheel hub can be used to measure longitudinal, lateral, and vertical tire forces, and pressure but available wheel transducers are expensive, hard to calibrate, and require large space; thus, they are not used for production vehicles. In-depth multidisciplinary research in areas including vehicle dynamics, control, estimate, energy harvesting, and even nanotechnology has been stimulated by the ambition to use intelligent tires. Triboelectric nanogenerators are a promising technology for converting mechanical energy from the ambient environment into electric energy. Via contact electrification and electrostatic induction, these triboelectric nanogenerators, commonly shortened into TENGs, convert mechanical energy from the environment, in this case from the bending and vibration of the tire, into electric energy. The great adaptability of the design shown by TENGs further enhances their ability to convert mechanical energy into electric energy at high conversion efficiencies. Furthermore, they have the great advantage to be lightweight, and easy to produce and they can be built from a large array of materials, which means that potentially they can also be very cost-effective. TENG can be applied also for wearable electronic devices and the Internet of Things (IoT), without the need for an external battery or connecting cables. The Energy ECS, a comprehensive three-year plan that creates inexpensive and clean energy solutions for smart mobility and the transition to a greener energy economy, includes this project. Designing a self-powered sensor system that gathers energy from the environment is one of the goals. The aim of this thesis is to simulate and design a prototype for a flexible triboelectric energy harvester for tire sensors. The first step is applying FEM (COMSOL Multiphysics) for the simulation of the harvester, modeling its mechanical and electric behavior, and MATLAB for data analysis. The second step is building and testing the TENG harvesters at the RISE labs and Nokian tyres, a finnish company of tire manufacturing