Design and development of a novel piezoelectric wind energy harvester

Abstract

Energy harvesting refers to the process of acquiring the surrounding energy and converting it into electrical energy. In this paper, a novel wind energy harvester is designed and developed based on the mechanical mechanism design with piezoelectric materials attached onto cantilever beam. It is designed to harvest wind energy from magnets interaction-induced vibration. The influences of different cantilever beams on the magnetic field performances have been analyzed by finite element analysis simulation. Different flabellum and piezoceramic materials have been compared and selected. Pivot design parameters have been determined. A prototype has been fabricated and the influences of different cantilever beams on the harvester's output have been examined. By making use of piezoelectric materials and harvesting circuits, the performance of the developed harvester device has been tested by conducting experimental testing. Future work on the harvester performance improvement has been discussed.