Mitochondrial Generator Approach using Moisture-Electricity Energy Transformation Devices for Powering Sensors

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While beneficial to monitor the current state (temperature, stress, oxidation level) of many gas turbine parts, of city installations (pollutant level detection, detection of garbage levels in bins), of park states (forest fire detection, snow level monitoring), of agricultural environment (water content in soil, crop temperature) and of clothing features, smart sensors are facing the challenge of being powered appropriately. As most of these sensors will require very low power and will not operate in continuous mode as well as be in remote locations, the traditional centralized power grid/battery-powered approaches are unlikely to be appropriate green power sources for these sensors. A more localized approach, mimicking biological systems is being envisioned: the "mitochondrial generator" approach. Similar to human cells, which are independently powered by their own microscopic power plant, the mitochondria, it is envisioned that each sensor would have similarly to the biological cell its own tailored and dedicated power generator. These "mitochondrial generators" should be small, light, able to deliver the small periodical power bursts required by the sensors, self-regenerating for extended lifetime to minimize waste and be zero carbon emitters. The proposed research program explores the possibility to create small moisture-electric energy transformation (MEET) devices. These thin MEET devices use and convert ambient moisture to electricity, and it is proposed to produce them using the Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing CSAM process. The long term objectives of this research program are: to develop and understand the fundamentals of CSAM MEET devices (MEET working principles and manufacturing process development) that also self-regeneration ability for the mitochondrial energy generation approach to power sensors and maximize the MEET power output density to achieve levels suitable for commercialisation and their use for smart city-environment-farming-wearable and ultimately gas turbine applications. A three-stream short term (5 years) objectives approach will be used for reaching milestones towards the long term objectives of the overall program goal. The outcome of the research aims to establish a clear evaluation of the potential of the mitochondrial generator approach using MEET devices produced by CSAM and be made available to Canadian companies for powering various sensors such as the ones used for smart city-farming-environment and ultimately for gas turbines monitoring. The proposed solution could represent ground-breaking solution in the energy field, which constitutes a major share of the Canadian economy in conjunction with the manufacturing sector.