A Liquid-Solid Triboelectric Sensor for Minor and Invisible Leakage Monitoring in Ship Pipelines

Ship pipelines are the most efficient and cost-effective devices for liquid transportation. However, the lack of monitoring methods for minor or invisible pipeline leakage hinders the development of intelligent ship pipeline management. Herein, a self-powered liquid leakage sensor (SLLS) based on a liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for ship pipeline monitoring is proposed, aiming at real time detecting, locating, and identifying the invisible and minor leakage of the ship pipelines. The proposed sensor mainly consists of a steel electrode and Si02/ PT F E based superhydrophobic coating, where the contact-separation between coating and leakage droplets can generate electric signals displaying leakage droplet information, such as incident angle, temperature, height, and volume. With the help of the unique
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i02 / PT F E based coating, the sensor posses self-cleaning, superhydrophobic and wear-resistant characteristics, making it suitable for environments with vibration, high temperature, and humidity. Moreover, the coating can also combine with the existing steel structures of the ships to form the large scale sensor arrays for leakage information identification. Through the experimental data investigation and analysis, the SLLS has the capacity of obtaining the minor or invisible leakage droplets information with high accuracy, which indicates great promise for employment in practical ship pipelines monitoring.