Modeling of nonlinear dynamic characteristics and experimental study of piezoelectric energy harvesters with a panel type structure

Abstract

Panel flutter vibration is a typical aeroelastic phenomenon taking place in flying aircrafts as they move at high speed. The vibration has been a hot academic research aspect. The present paper focuses on converting this aerodynamic mechanical vibration into useful electricity by using piezoelectric patches. A mathematical Euler-Bernoulli distributed model of the piezoelectric energy harvesting system is established to investigate nonlinear dynamical behaviour of a piezoelectric cantilever plate. The dynamical responding ability of energy harvesting is numerically calculated. Influences of the length and the thickness of piezoelectric layer, the external resistance and wind velocity on the output performance are emphatically explored. A series of prototypes of piezoelectric energy harvesters with different physical dimensions were designed and manufactured. Wind tunnel experiments were setup and carried out at different wind velocities. The experimental results show that the harvesting power gets enhanced as increasing the wind velocity. The maximum power could be obtained at condition of a reasonable piezoelectric length and width. Maximum power is 2.0 mW at wind speed of 11.0 m/s. This work provides a strong theoretical and experimental basis for the study of aerodynamic energy harvesting from panel aircrafts.