Abstract
Renewable and sustainable energies exhibit promising performance while serving as the power supply of a wireless sensor especially located in marine waters. Various microgenerators have been developed to harvest wave energy. However, the conversion ability from a dynamic oscillating source of wave is crucial to enhance their effectiveness in practical applications. In this paper, a new piezoelectric converter system is proposed to harvest the kinetic energy from ocean waves. The vortex-induced effect in an air channel enhances the vibration performance, improving the energy harvesting efficiency. The system comprises an oscillating water column (OWC) air chamber, a bluff body, and a piezoelectric piece for electromechanical transduction. The fluid–solid–electric coupling finite element method was used to investigate the relation between the output voltage and geometrical parameters, including the size and position of the piezoelectric cantilever beam, which is based on the user-defined function of the ANSYS. It is found that the bluff body in the outlet channel above the air chamber induced high-frequency vortex shedding vibration. The regular wave rushed into the air chamber with a frequency of 0.285 Hz and extruded the air across the bluff body in the outlet channel. This incurred the fluctuation of the air pressure and excited the piezoelectric cantilever beam vibration with a high frequency of 233 Hz in the wake region. Furthermore, a continuous electrical output with a peak voltage of 6.11 V is generated, which has potential applications for the wireless sensors on the marine buoy.
Highlights
Piezoelectric power generation driven by ocean waves is a promising alternative or self-contained power source for remote wireless sensor nodes [1, 2]
We developed a piezoelectric harvester with an oscillating water column (OWC) in its air chamber. is device converts low-frequency ocean waves into higher frequencies of air pressure fluctuations, triggering the vibration of the piezoelectric cantilever beam, as depicted in Figure 1. e relation between the generating power and the geometrical parameters of the structure was investigated based on fluid–solid–electric coupling by the finite element method. e new energy harvesting system improves the fluctuating frequency and the output voltage amplitude of the piezoelectric cantilever beam induced by the ocean wave
When the ocean wave flows into the air chamber, the ocean wave energy is transformed into oscillation kinetic energy at the free water surface of the internal chamber [42]. e air is compressed
Summary
Piezoelectric power generation driven by ocean waves is a promising alternative or self-contained power source for remote wireless sensor nodes [1, 2]. Hwang introduced a piezoelectric energy harvesting system in which a magnet is the tip mass at the end of the piezoelectric cantilever structure and a rail with a metal ball is capable of harvesting energy from low-frequency vibrations induced by ocean waves [26]. Murray presented a two-stage piezoelectric energy generator with buoyant structures that interact with the ocean waves as a low-frequency source and excite an array of vibrating piezoelectric elements into higher-frequency resonance, similar to a musician strumming a guitar [27]. Viet developed a variant of the harvester containing four magnetic bar-mass-spring-lever-piezoelectric systems that are symmetrically arranged to transform the low-frequency ocean wave energy into electricity, harnessing high power [29, 30]. We developed a piezoelectric harvester with an oscillating water column (OWC) in its air chamber. is device converts low-frequency ocean waves into higher frequencies of air pressure fluctuations, triggering the vibration of the piezoelectric cantilever beam, as depicted in Figure 1. e relation between the generating power and the geometrical parameters of the structure was investigated based on fluid–solid–electric coupling by the finite element method. e new energy harvesting system improves the fluctuating frequency and the output voltage amplitude of the piezoelectric cantilever beam induced by the ocean wave
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