Energy harvesting from fluid flow using piezoelectrics: A critical review

Abstract

The ambient energy as an available and harvestable energy source which has a high potential to generate electricity for powering electronics devices. Piezoelectric materials, as one of the well-known energy harvesting mechanisms, play a significant role in converting ambient energy into electrical energy, particularly in small electronic devices such as measuring devices in remote or hostile environments where batteries are not an acceptable option. For this reason, piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) can help to optimize the weight of structures. In addition, PEH can produce an output voltage in response to the inputs such as thermal, electrical, mechanical and electromagnetic energies. This paper provides a holistic review of the energy harvesting techniques from fluid flow using piezoelectric materials. To this end, the recently conducted research studies in the context of energy harvesting based on the fluid flow motion have been reviewed, considering various modeling and methods for improving the PEH efficiency. Various types of energy harvesting mechanisms, based on vibration by using piezoelectric, have been investigated to identify their opportunities and challenges.