Modeling and Analysis of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from Helicopter Blades

Abstract

Converting aeroelastic vibrations into electricity for low-power generation has received growing attention over the past few years. Helicopter blades with embedded piezoelectric elements can provide electrical energy to power small electronic components. In this paper, the non-linear modeling and analysis of a composite cantilevered helicopter blade with embedded piezoceramics is presented for energy harvesting. A resistive load is considered in the electrical domain of the problem (generator circuit) in order to quantify the electrical power output. The shunt damping effect due to the resistive dissipation is also investigated. The non-linear electromechanical model of a rotating beam with embedded piezoceramics is derived based on the Variational-Asymptotic Method (VAM). The coupled non-linear rotary system is solved in the time-domain. A generalized-� integration method is used to guarantee numerical stability, adding numerical damping at high frequencies. The results are verified against numerical and experimental results reported in the literature. The electromechanical behavior of the coupled rotating blade is investigated for increasing rotating speeds (stiffening effect) and also for different electrical boundary conditions.