Nonlinear dual action piezoelectric energy harvester for collecting wind energy from the environment

Since the energy demand increases, the sources of fluid energy such as wind energy and marine energy have attracted widespread attention, especially vortex-induced vibrations excited by wind energy. It is well known that the lock-in effect in vortex-induced vibration can be applied to the piezoelectric energy harvester. Although numerous researches have been conducted on piezoelectric energy harvesting devices in recent years, a common problem of low bandwidth and harvesting efficiency still exists. In order to increase the response amplitude and decrease the threshold wind speed of vortex-induced vibration, a bionic attachment structure is proposed based on the experimental method. In the present work, twelve models are designed according to the size of pits and hemispheric protrusions which are added to the surface of a flexible smooth cylinder. Compared with the smooth cylinder which is taken as a carrier, the harvester with the bionic structure shows stronger energy capture performance on the whole. As the threshold speed decelerates from 1.8m/s to 1 m/s, the bandwidth, on the contrary, increases from 39.3% to 51.4%. Particularly, for the 10 mm pits structure with 5 columns, its peak voltage can reach 47 V, and its peak power can reach 1.21 mW with a resistance of 800 kΩ, 0.57 mW higher than that of the smooth cylinder. Comparatively speaking, the hemispherical projections structure figures with a much more different energy capturing characteristic. Starting from the column, the measured voltage of the hemispherical bionic harvester is much smaller than that of the smooth cylinder, with a peak voltage less than 15 V and a reducing bandwidth. However, compared with the smooth cylinder, hemispheric projections with 3 columns have a better energy capture effect with a measured voltage of 35V, a resistance of 800kΩ, and a wind speed of 3.097 m/s. Besides, its output power also enhances from 0.48 to 0.56 mW.

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Fan-structure wind energy harvester using circular array of polyvinylidene fluoride cantilevers

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures ◽

10.1177/1045389x16657201 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (5) ◽

pp. 653-662 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Fengxian Bai ◽

Guoliang Song ◽

Weijie Dong ◽

Lijuan Guan ◽

Huayu Bao

Keyword(s):

Wind Speed ◽

Wind Energy ◽

Output Power ◽

Lead Zirconate Titanate ◽

Polyvinylidene Fluoride ◽

Energy Harvester ◽

Lead Zirconate ◽

Circular Array ◽

Piezoelectric Energy ◽

The Impact

A fan-structure piezoelectric energy harvester was proposed and tested in order to collect wind energy. Polyvinylidene fluoride was chosen due to its flexibility and longevity when compared to lead zirconate titanate. The impact-induced piezoelectric energy harvester consists of a stator and a rotor and a circular array of four cantilevers, utilize the rotor blades’ periodic impact on the free end of the cantilevers to generate oscillatory motion of cantilevers. A circular array of polyvinylidene fluoride cantilevers was fixed around the rotor in order to increase output power, save space at the same time. Static and transient characteristics of different cantilevers were investigated using finite element method and the result showed that polyvinylidene fluoride triangular cantilever performs the best in output voltage and power. Under the condition of optimal impedance and optimal overlap distance, a sum AC output power of four cantilevers without connection to each other approach to 0.75 mW was measured at the wind speed of 7 m/s when the blade number of rotor is 7 or 9. Two branches 0.27 mW DC output power was obtained when each two cantilevers in parallel connection in the case of full-wave rectification of each cantilever at the wind speed of 7 m/s.

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Design and Testing of a New Rotary Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for Wind Energy Harvesting

2018 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA) ◽

10.1109/icma.2018.8484329 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Zehao Wu ◽

Qingsong Xu

Keyword(s):

Energy Harvesting ◽

Wind Energy ◽

Energy Harvester ◽

Piezoelectric Energy ◽

Design And Testing

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Effects of Electrical and Electromechanical Parameters on Performance of Galloping-Based Wind Energy Harvester with Piezoelectric and Electromagnetic Transductions

Vibration ◽

10.3390/vibration2020014 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 222-239 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hongyan Wang ◽

Liya Zhao ◽

Lihua Tang

Keyword(s):

Wind Energy ◽

Analytical Solutions ◽

Power Output ◽

Parametric Study ◽

Energy Harvester ◽

Numerical Solutions ◽

Average Power ◽

Energy Harvesters ◽

Piezoelectric Energy ◽

Approximate Analytical Solutions

This paper presents an analysis of galloping-based wind energy harvesters with piezoelectric and electromagnetic transductions. The lumped parameter models of the galloping-based piezoelectric energy harvester (GPEH) and galloping-based electromagnetic energy harvester (GEMEH) are developed and the approximate analytical solutions of the equations are derived using the harmonic balance method (HBM). The accuracy of the approximate analytical solutions is validated by the numerical solutions. A parametric study is then conducted based on the validated models and solutions to understand the effects of the dimensionless load resistance, r, and electromechanical coupling strength (EMCS) on various quantities indicating the performance of the harvesters, including the dimensionless oscillating frequency, cut-in wind speed, displacement, and average power output. The results show that both r and EMCS can affect the dimensionless oscillating frequencies of the GPEH and GEMEH in a narrow frequency range around the natural frequency. A significant decrease in the displacement around r = 1 for GEPH and at a low r for GEMEH indicates the damping effect induced by the increase in EMCS. There are two optimal r to achieve the maximal power output for GPEH given strong EMCS while there is only one optimal r for GEMEH. Both GPEH and GEMEH show similar characteristics in that the optimal power outputs can reach saturation with an increase of the EMCS. The findings from the parametric study provide useful guidelines for the design of galloping-based energy harvesters with different energy conversion mechanisms.

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Design and Testing of Wind Energy Harvester Based on PVDF

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.613.185 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 613 ◽

pp. 185-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Li Juan Guan ◽

Feng Xian Bai ◽

Wei Jie Dong

Keyword(s):

Wind Energy ◽

Polyvinylidene Fluoride ◽

Energy Harvester ◽

Renewable Resource ◽

Maximum Power Density ◽

Peak Voltage ◽

Wind Speeds ◽

Piezoelectric Energy ◽

Series Of Experiments ◽

Design And Testing

With an increasing concern about renewable resource, piezoelectricity has gained significant importance in research for extracting renewable resource from the environment. In this work, a piezoelectric energy harvester is developed, which composed of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and a fan structure, to generate electric power from wind energy. The voltage/power responses were evaluated when subjected to various wind speeds. Three laminated piezoelectric PVDF specimens were tested in this study. A series of experiments demonstrated a peak voltage 21.6v and a maximum power density 5.64mw/cm3 is generated respectively when the wind speed is 9m/s.

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A Multi-Mode Broadband Vibration Energy Harvester Composed of Symmetrically Distributed U-Shaped Cantilever Beams

Micromachines ◽

10.3390/mi12020203 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 203

Author(s):

Xiaohua Huang ◽

Cheng Zhang ◽

Keren Dai

Keyword(s):

Energy Harvester ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Experimental Results ◽

Vibration Energy ◽

Cantilever Beams ◽

Resonant Frequencies ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Piezoelectric Energy ◽

Straight Beam ◽

Resonance Frequencies

Using the piezoelectric effect to harvest energy from surrounding vibrations is a promising alternative solution for powering small electronic devices such as wireless sensors and portable devices. A conventional piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) can only efficiently collect energy within a small range around the resonance frequency. To realize broadband vibration energy harvesting, the idea of multiple-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) PEH to realize multiple resonant frequencies within a certain range has been recently proposed and some preliminary research has validated its feasibility. Therefore, this paper proposed a multi-DOF wideband PEH based on the frequency interval shortening mechanism to realize five resonance frequencies close enough to each other. The PEH consists of five tip masses, two U-shaped cantilever beams and a straight beam, and tuning of the resonance frequencies is realized by specific parameter design. The electrical characteristics of the PEH are analyzed by simulation and experiment, validating that the PEH can effectively expand the operating bandwidth and collect vibration energy in the low frequency. Experimental results show that the PEH has five low-frequency resonant frequencies, which are 13, 15, 18, 21 and 24 Hz; under the action of 0.5 g acceleration, the maximum output power is 52.2, 49.4, 61.3, 39.2 and 32.1 μW, respectively. In view of the difference between the simulation and the experimental results, this paper conducted an error analysis and revealed that the material parameters and parasitic capacitance are important factors that affect the simulation results. Based on the analysis, the simulation is improved for better agreement with experiments.

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