Abstract
A traditional wind energy harvester based on galloping can only harvest wind energy from one specific direction, which fails to work efficiently in a natural erratic environment. In this study, we propose a galloping-based piezoelectric energy harvester that can collect energy from wind flow in a wide range of incident directions with multiple vibrational modes being excited. The proposed harvester is composed of a tri-section beam with bonded piezoelectric transducers and a square bluff body with splitters. Finite element analysis of the tri-section beam structure is first performed and confirms the clustered natural frequencies that ease the excitation of different modes. Then, the aerodynamic characteristics of various bluff bodies is conducted through computational fluid dynamics to compare the capability of galloping. Finally, the wind tunnel experiment is carried out to test the wind energy harvesting performance by utilizing the harvester’s multi-modal characteristics. The results of this study demonstrate that the proposed harvester can harvest wind energy in multiple directions with the capability of galloping in multiple vibrational modes, and superior performance is achieved when the second bending mode is triggered. The novel design of the harvester from this work provides a viable solution for harvesting wind energy in a natural environment with varying wind conditions.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.