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A new strategy for tube leakage and blockage detection using bubble motion-based solid-liquid triboelectric sensor

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Abstract

Exploring a rapid, reliable, and practical means to detect blockages and leakages in liquid pipelines and accurately locate their positions is of great importance in practical engineering applications. Here, we report a bubble motion-based triboelectric sensor (BM-TES) for detecting and locating the blockages and leaks inside a plastic tube. This simple-designed, environment-friendly, non-damaging sensor is composed of several ring-shaped Cu electrodes distributed on a polytetrafluoroethylene tube. The self-powered movement of the bubble under the action of buoyancy makes the inner wall of the tube change from the original solid-liquid phase to the gas-solid-liquid phase, which results in a short-term contact and separation between the liquid and the wall. Based on the fractional triboelectric effect of the liquid-solid contact, an obvious real-time stable voltage peak will be generated where the detection bubble passes. The obvious peaks of the open-circuit voltage with respect to time correspond with the electrode distribution. Then, the peaks can be utilized as a robust and sensitive indicator for detecting blockage and leakage, as the number of obvious peaks of the open-circuit voltage is directly related to the blockage and leakage location. The blockage and leakage in a fluid tube were successfully detected using the BM-TES with an accuracy of 10 cm. In addition, the BE-TES was able to detect the water flow velocity in the pipe. The experimental results showed that BM-TES can provide a new strategy and method for liquid tube monitoring and has great potential application value in related fields.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Key Laboratory of Hydroelectric Machinery Design & Maintenance, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    XiaoLong Zhang, Yang Dong, Xiang Xu & HongLing Qin

  2. State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    XiaoLong Zhang, Yang Dong & DaoAi Wang

  3. Qingdao Center of Resource Chemistry and New Materials, Qingdao, 266100, China

    DaoAi Wang

Authors
  1. XiaoLong Zhang
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  2. Yang Dong
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  3. Xiang Xu
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  4. HongLing Qin
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  5. DaoAi Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to DaoAi Wang.

Additional information

This work was supported by the Program for Taishan Scholars of Shandong Province (Grant No. ts20190965), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2020YFF0304600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51905518), the Innovation Leading Talents Program of Qingdao (Grant No. 19-3-2-23-zhc), the Tribology Science Fund of State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication (Grant Nos. LSL-1903, and LSL-1909), the Open Research Fund of Hubei Key Laboratory of Hydroelectric Machinery Design & Maintenance (Grant Nos. 2019KJX09, and 2019KJX07), and the Research Fund for Excellent Dissertation of China Three Gorges University (Grant No. 2021SSPY038).

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A new strategy for tube leakage and blockage detection using bubble motion-based solid-liquid triboelectric sensor

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Zhang, X., Dong, Y., Xu, X. et al. A new strategy for tube leakage and blockage detection using bubble motion-based solid-liquid triboelectric sensor. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 65, 282–292 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-021-1883-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-021-1883-0

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