Coupled analysis of multi-impact energy harvesting from low-frequency wind induced vibrations

Abstract

Energy need from off-grid locations has been critical for effective real-time monitoring and control to ensure structural safety and reliability. To harvest energy from ambient environments, the piezoelectric-based energy-harvesting system has been proven very efficient to convert high frequency vibrations into usable electrical energy. However, due to the low frequency nature of the vibrations of civil infrastructures, such as those induced from vehicle impacts, wind, and waves, the application of a traditional piezoelectric-based energy-harvesting system is greatly restrained since the output power drops dramatically with the reduction of vibration frequencies. This paper focuses on the coupled analysis of a proposed piezoelectric multi-impact wind-energy-harvesting device that can effectively up-convert low frequency wind-induced vibrations into high frequency ones. The device consists of an H-shape beam and four bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beams. The H-shape beam, which can be easily triggered to vibrate at a low wind speed, is originated from the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which failed at wind speeds of 18.8 m s−1 in 1940. The multi-impact mechanism between the H-shape beam and the bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beams is incorporated to improve the harvesting performance at lower frequencies. During the multi-impact process, a series of sequential impacts between the H-shape beam and the cantilever beams can trigger high frequency vibrations of the cantilever beams and result in high output power with a considerably high efficiency. In the coupled analysis, the coupled structural, aerodynamic, and electrical equations are solved to obtain the dynamic response and the power output of the proposed harvesting device. A parametric study for several parameters in the coupled analysis framework is carried out including the external resistance, wind speed, and the configuration of the H-shape beam. The average harvested power for the piezoelectric cantilever beam reaches 11.77 mW with a power density of 6.11 mW cm−3 under the wind speed of 10 m s−1, which is sufficient to power small sensors. The average harvested power can further reach up to 45 mW under the wind speed of 14 m s−1.