Abstract
The technology of scavenging ambient energy to realize self-powered of wireless sensor has an important value in practice. In order to investigate the effects of piezoelectric-patch length and the shape of front bluff body on energy conversion of the wind energy harvester by flow-induced vibration, the characteristics of a piezoelectric wind energy harvester based on bluff body are experimentally studied in this work. Four different section shapes of the bluff body, including triangular cylinder, trapezoidal cylinder, reverse trapezoidal cylinder, and square cylinder, are tested. The piezoelectric patch is attached on the leeward side of the bluff body. The lengths of piezoelectric patch are considered as 1.0D–1.4D (D is the characteristic length of the bluff body). It is found that the length of the piezoelectric patch and the shape of the front bluff body play a vital role in improving the performance of wind energy harvester. For the reverse trapezoidal cylinder and square cylinder, the back-to-back vortex-induced vibration (VIV) and galloping phenomenon can be observed. In addition, the energy harvesting performance of the reverse trapezoidal cylinder piezoelectric harvester is the best. The maximum average peak voltage of 1.806 V and the output power of P=16.3 μW can be obtained when external resistance and the length of piezoelectric patch are 100 KΩ and 1.1D, respectively.
Highlights
In recent years, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have made great progress and sensors are gradually becoming intelligent, miniaturized, and wireless-networked [1,2,3,4]
At medium and high wind speeds, the output voltages for the cases of l = 1.3D and 1.4D are significantly smaller than those of l = 1.0D, l = 1.1D, and l = 1.2D. e vortex-induced vibration (VIV) and galloping phenomenon are observed at l = 1.0D, l = 1.1D, and l = 1.2D, and the voltage increases monotonically with wind speed when the wind velocity beyonds critical wind speed (Uci)
When the wind speed continues to increase until beyond critical wind speed (Uci), the whole piezoelectric patch starts vibration, and the output voltages and power become larger. e piezoelectric patch of l = 1.1D produces the best performance for harvesting power when the wind speed exceeds 6.3 m/s. e maximum voltage and power of the square cylinder-piezoelectric patch system can reach 1.596 V and 12.70 μW, respectively
Summary
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have made great progress and sensors are gradually becoming intelligent, miniaturized, and wireless-networked [1,2,3,4]. When the frequency of the fluid force approaches the natural frequency of the structure, the structure will generate a large vibration Based on this phenomenon, many flow-induced vibration energy harvesters have been developed. Improving the electromechanical conversion efficiency and power density for wind-induced vibration energy harvesters is an urgent problem to be solved. Hu et al [35] experimentally evaluated the ability of attachments with different cross-section shapes on the circular cylinder to improve the efficiency of VIPEH. The performance of harvester with different lengths of piezoelectric patch attached on the bluff body is experimentally investigated in an open-circuit wind tunnel.
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