Three-phase coded triboelectric nanogenerator disk: A novel approach for generating diverse control instructions in human–machine interactions

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been widely utilized in a variety of real-world applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and human–machine interactions (HMIs). However, current technologies are difficult to be implemented in the situations that require a large amount of control instructions, due to the limitation on the size and the cost of the TENG-based interface. In this paper, a sliding operation three-phase coded TENG based control disk HMI interface is developed by integrating three coded copper electrodes, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film, and electronic signal processing circuits. The three-phase coded TENG electrodes enable the ability to overcome the challenge of increasing the number of generatable control instructions. The proposed system successfully achieves thirty sensing transitions through the utilization of the three-phase patterned electrodes. To evaluate the performance of this system, four applications, including English letters typing, game control, smart home control, and authentication access control, are implemented in real-time. An embedded microcontroller with a Bluetooth interface is employed to process and transmit the triboelectric control signal. The proposed TENG control disk effectively supports all functionalities required for these applications. Overall, the successful implementation and support of these applications demonstrate the effectiveness and versatility of the proposed TENG control disk in real-world scenarios and potential environments.