Abstract
Nowadays, energy-related issues are of paramount importance. Every energy transformation process results in the production of waste heat that can be harvested and reused, representing an ecological and economic opportunity. Waste heat to power (WHP) is the process of converting the waste heat into electricity. A novel approach is proposed based on the employment of liquid nano colloids. In this work, the triboelectric characterization of TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed in pure water and flowing in a fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) pipe was conducted. The idea is to exploit the waste heat to generate the motion of colloidal TiO2 through a FEP pipe. By placing an Al ring electrode in contact with the pipe, it was possible to accumulate electrostatic charges due to the triboelectric effect between the fluid and the inner pipe walls. A peristaltic pump was used to drive and control the flow in order to evaluate the performances in a broad fluid dynamic spectrum. The system generated as output relatively high voltages and low currents, resulting in extracted power ranging between 0.4 and 0.6 nW. By comparing the power of pressure loss due to friction with the extracted power, the electro-kinetic efficiency was estimated to be 20%.
Highlights
According to a recent study [1], the world energy consumption has followed an increasing trend since the first industrial era
The experimental setup consists of a cylindrical fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) pipe in which the motion of a colloidal solution of TiO2 nanoparticles (Evonik Degussa, Essen, Germany) and deionized water (DIW) is forced by a peristaltic pump (Cole-Parmer GmbH, Wertheim, Germany); the region addressed to the extraction of the electrostatic charge was placed half-way of the pipe in order to reduce the fluid dynamics disturbance associated to the progressive reduction of the section of the pipe, starting from the pump up to the extraction region
The modeling of the system considers a RC equivalent circuit, where the resistive component is associated to the conductivity of the solution, the capacitive component to the geometrical properties of the electrodes and to the insulating properties of the polymer interface and, the current flowing in the electrodes proportional to the velocity in the pipe
Summary
According to a recent study [1], the world energy consumption has followed an increasing trend since the first industrial era. In 2040, world energy consumption is expected to exceed 200,000 TWh/year, and the industry sector (expected to grow by an 18% from 2015 to 2040) will be responsible for more than 50% [2]. For this reason, energy-related issues including the exploitation of resources, the cost transformation as well as awareness about utilization, are of paramount importance. The main source of waste heat is the industrial sector, and in domestic, automotive, and aerospace fields, energy harvesting is an important milestone of the environmentally friendly industries and processes of the future since, currently, low enthalpy thermal loads with a temperature below 250 ◦C are discarded [5]. Heat rejected into the environment is one of the largest sources of clean, fuel-free, and inexpensive energy available
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