Abstract
The aim of this work is to show that classical Structural Health Monitoring ultrasonic sensors may provide some power harvesting capabilities from a wide variety of vibration sources. In other words, the authors developed an integrated piezoelectric energy harvesting sensor capable of operating a dual mode, that is, carrying out vibration power harvesting and Structural Health Monitoring. First, vibrations signals of an A380 aircraft recorded during different phases of flight are presented to show the need of a wideband piezoelectric energy harvester. Then, the voltage response of a piezoelectric power harvester bonded onto an aluminium cantilever plate and excited by an electromechanical shaker is measured. A finite element model of the energy harvester system is also presented. This model provides the voltage response of the harvester due to a mechanical excitation of the host structure and allows a better understanding of the energy harvesting process. In many cases, a good agreement with the experimental results is obtained. A power measurement also showed the ability of piezoelectric SHM sensors to harvest power over an extended frequency range present in spectra collected in aircrafts. This result could lead to numerous applications even though this kind of power harvester sensor has been initially designed to operate onboard aircrafts.
Highlights
Energy harvesting, or scavenging as it is frequently called, provides new opportunities for sensor manufacturers in applications that would otherwise have difficulty obtaining a reliable power source
The Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) energy harvesters measure resonance of the host structure and this independently of the frequency. This confirms the ability of SHM energy harvester to work over an extended frequency range
Concerning the difference of amplitude depending on the resonant frequencies, the Finite Element Method (FEM) model keeps the ratio between the force applied at a given frequency and the subsequent voltage response
Summary
Scavenging as it is frequently called, provides new opportunities for sensor manufacturers in applications that would otherwise have difficulty obtaining a reliable power source. Various techniques exist in order to carry out energy harvesting They are based on light or temperature difference [1], radio frequency [2], inductive coupling, wind energy [3], and mechanical vibration conversion [4,5,6,7,8]. The authors study the feasibility of developing a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system having a double functionality, that is, carrying out SHM tasks and energy harvesting in order to be fully autonomous This SHM system has been initially built to perform damage assessment of aeronautic structures using well-known techniques like the Selective Lamb Mode Technique [9], Acoustic
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