Abstract
The layout configuration of Vortex Induced Piezoelectric Energy Converters (VIPECs) is essential to improve its overall performance. Based on the formations of migrating geese, the configuration is characterized by two nondimensionalized layout parameters. A number of sampled points for different configurations are simulated with the two-dimensional Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method. The influence of layout configurations on VIPECs’ lift force and wake structure is investigated and the generated open circuit output voltage is obtained through the derived output voltage equation. The response surface model of the output voltage of both the leading VIPEC and the following VIPEC and their summation are established using the Kriging surrogate model based on the obtained simulation results. Then, optimal layout parameters are found through the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, and its predicted result is compared with that of the CFD simulation. The simulation and optimization results reveal that the output voltage is not always consistent with the lift force on the plate. When VIPECs are placed in parallel with a certain spacing, their overall performance increases. The summation of output voltage is predicted to improve by approximately 63.7% compared to two single VIPECs when they are placed at the optimal layout parameters.
Highlights
Due to the increase in energy consumption and the urgency of environmental protection, various new energy resources, especially environmentally-friendly and renewable ocean energy, including wave energy, marine current power, and osmotic power, have been contributing more and more to global energy consumption
The layout configuration of two Vortex Induced Piezoelectric Energy Converters (VIPECs) can be divided into four parts according to the relative position of the leading/following VIPEC: the interference region, the tandem region, the parallel region, and the staggered region
The layout configuration of two VIPECs is characterized by two dimensionless parameters: the nondimensionalized longitudinal spacing (a) and the nondimensionalized latitudinal spacing (b), which are invoked as design parameters
Summary
Due to the increase in energy consumption and the urgency of environmental protection, various new energy resources, especially environmentally-friendly and renewable ocean energy, including wave energy, marine current power, and osmotic power, have been contributing more and more to global energy consumption. The VIPEC is a device that converts fluid kinematic energy into electric power through the deformation of piezoelectric materials which is actuated by the impingement of shedding vortices from a leading bluff body upon the pivoted plate. This converter is free from the complicated mechanical conversion system; it is suitable for underwater mooring platforms and has a unrivaled advantage over previous VIV harvesters in this regard
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