Conversion of wind-induced vibrations into electricity (original) (raw)
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Harvesting Wind Energy Using a Galloping Piezoelectric Beam
Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, 2011
Galloping of structures such as transmission lines and bridges is a classical aeroelastic instability that has been considered as harmful and destructive. However, there exists potential to harness useful energy from this phenomenon. This paper focuses on harvesting wind energy that is being transferred to a galloping beam. The beam has a rigid tip body with a D-shaped cross section. Piezoelectric sheets are bonded on the top and bottom surface of the beam. During galloping, vibrational motion is input to the system due to aerodynamic forces on the D-section, which is converted into electrical energy by the piezoelectric (PZT) sheets. The relative importance of various parameters of the system such as wind speed, material properties of the beam, electrical load and beam’s natural frequency are discussed. Experimental and analytical investigations of dynamic response and power output are performed on a representative device. A maximum output power of 1.14 mW was measured at a wind ve...
Advances in Structural Engineering, 2019
Energy harvesting is an emerging technology holding promise of sustainability amid the alarming rate at which the human community is depleting the natural resources to cater its needs. There are several ways of harvesting energy in a renewable fashion such as through solar, wind, hydro-electric, geothermal, and artificial photosynthesis. This study focuses on energy harvesting from wind vibrations and ambient structural vibrations (such as from rail and road bridges) through piezo transducers using the direct piezoelectric effect. First, the potential of the piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient wind vibrations has been investigated and presented here. Lead zirconate titanate patches have been attached at the fixed end of aluminum rectangular and trapezoidal cantilevers, which have been exposed to varying wind velocity in a lab-size wind tunnel. The effect of perforations and twisting (distortion) on the power generated by the patches under varying wind velocity has also been...
Piezoelectric Wind Power Harnessing – An Overview
As fossil energy resources deplete, wind energy gains ever more importance. Recently, piezoelectric energy harvesting methods are emerging with the advancements in piezoelectric materials and its storage elements. Piezoelectric materials can be utilized to convert kinetic energy to electrical energy. Utilization of piezoelectric wind harvesting is a rather new means to convert renewable wind energy to electricity. Piezoelectric generators are typically low cost and easy to maintain. This work illustrates an overview of piezoelectric wind harvesting technology. In wind harvesting, piezoelectric material choice is of the first order of importance. Due to their strain rate, robustness is a concern. For optimum energy harvesting efficiency resonant frequency of the selected materials and overall system configuration plays important role. In this work, existing piezoelectric wind generators are grouped and presented in following categories: leaf type, rotary type, rotary to linear type and beam type wind generators.
Design and Development of Bladeless Vibration-Based Piezoelectric Energy–Harvesting Wind Turbine
Applied Sciences
To meet the growing energy demand and increasing environmental concerns, clean and renewable fluid energy, such as wind and ocean energy, has received considerable attention. This study proposes a bladeless wind energy–harvesting device based vortex-induced vibrations (VIV). The proposed design is mainly composed of a base, a hollow mast, and an elastic rod. The proposed design takes advantage of vortices generated when the airflow interacts with the mast, and the flow splits and then separates and generates vortices that eventually make the elastic rod oscillate, and out of these oscillations, energy can be harvested. Different airflow disruption geometries are studied and tested numerically and experimentally to identify the most effective shape and orientation for converting wind energy to electric energy. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and simulations were performed on the elastic mast, a VIV device’s core wind energy–collecting component, to guide the device’s desi...
Wind energy harvesting from wind-induced vibration
2017
Wind power is a clean energy source and alternative to the non-renewable type of energy sources. One of the challenges in utilizing wind energy is to efficiently harvest the wind energy into a usable electrical power, especially in the regions with low wind speed. This study aims to assess the possibility of harvesting wind energy by using the concept of flow induced vibration of a bluff body. A thin flat plate is introduced downstream of the cylinder as a simple but effective passive wind control. Three conditions have been tested to evaluate its effects on wind energy harvesting: isolated cylinder, flat plate with vibrating cylinder and cylinder with vibrating flat plate. The wind-body interaction is simulated using mesh motion technique available in OpenFOAM, an open source code for Computational Fluid Dynamics, while the harvested energy is calculated based on the work done by the single degree of freedom (SDOF) vibrating body. The study found that the vibrating cylinder with fl...
Small Wind Energy Harvesting From Galloping Using Piezoelectric Materials
Volume 2: Mechanics and Behavior of Active Materials; Integrated System Design and Implementation; Bio-Inspired Materials and Systems; Energy Harvesting, 2012
A galloping piezoelectric harvester for small wind energy harvesting usually consists of a cantilever beam clamped at one end and a tip body attached to its free end. The tip body has significant influence on the aeroelastic characteristic of the harvester thus the efficiency of energy harvesting. However, no systematic study on the tip body is available in the literature. This article focuses on the effect of tip body on the performance of the harvester. A prototype device is fabricated with different tip bodies having various cross sections, lengths, and masses. Wind tunnel tests are conducted to determine the influence of these parameters on the power generated. A peak output power of 8.4 mW is achieved at a wind velocity of 8 m/s for the harvester with a tip of square section. An analytical model integrating electromechanical and aerodynamic formulations is established, and the results agree well with the experiments. It is recommended that the tip of square section should be us...
Journal of Energy in Southern Africa
The concept of harvesting energy in the ambient environment arouses great interest because of the demand for wireless sensing devices and low-power electronics without external power supply. Harvesting energy by vibration with piezoelectric materials can be used to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy that can be stored and used to power other devices. This conversion of vibrations (mechanical energy) to electrical energy using piezoelectric materials is an exciting and rapidly developing area of research with a widening range of applications constantly materialising. In this context, the goal of this paper is to develop a comprehensive prototype generator that can harvest vibration energy and convert it to electrical energy by providing the output power for optimisation and its performance. Two setups of prototype are used: a cantilever beam with tip mass at the end, and a cantilever beam without tip mass at the end. Data from the experiment is compared and analysed usi...
Preliminary Testing of a New Vibration Energy Harvester
2018
A novel technology designed to use fluid induced vibrations in a tensioned strap as the driving force for electrical generation is explored. We have developed a device to harness wind energy by using a tuned surface vibrating in airflow. As an unstable surface, under tension, encounters airflow it vibrates causing the distance spanned by the surface to oscillate. We tune the tension in the surface to achieve a large amplitude and short period oscillation. This motion drives a ratchet and flywheel which can turn a generator. Prototype systems have shown promise including output in excess of 750 rpm. These low noise, low action generators may allow for urban deployment, deployment in low infrastructure areas, and supplementation of existing wind farm structures. The development of these devices has involved designing a system to achieve constructive interference and large amplitude semi-stable oscillation which is not normally a feature desired in a bluff body design. The design ...
Energy harvesting from high-rise buildings by a piezoelectric coupled cantilever with a proof mass
International Journal of Engineering Science, 2013
An optimal design of a piezoelectric coupled cantilever structure attached by a proof mass subjected to harmonic motions is developed to achieve efficient energy harvesting for applications in high-rise buildings. Energy harvesting is realized from the electromechanical coupling effect by the piezoelectric patch mounted on the cantilever. To describe the energy harvesting process, a mathematical model is developed to calculate the output electrical charge and the voltage from the piezoelectric patch. The corresponding efficiency of the energy harvesting by the piezoelectric coupled vibrating cantilever can then be obtained. The influence of the thickness ratio of the piezoelectric patch to the host beam, the length and location of the piezoelectric patch, the radius of the attached mass, and the excitation frequency of the harmonic motion on the energy harvesting efficiency is investigated for the optimal design. This research provides a new method for absorbing vibration energy of high-rise buildings subjected to harmonic motions such as wind loadings through a design of energy harvesting devices made of piezoelectric coupled cantilever structures.