Harvest Electrical Energy Research Articles

Development and Evolution of the System Structure for Highly Efficient Solar Steam Generation from Zero to Three Dimensions

AbstractDirect solar steam generation (DSSG) offers a promising, sustainable, and environmentally friendly solution to the energy and water crisis. In the past decades, DSSG has gained tremendous attention due to its potential applications for clean water production, desalination, wastewater treatment, and electric energy harvesting. Even though the solar–thermal conversion efficiency has approached 100% under 1 sun illumination (1 kW m−2) using various photothermal materials and systems, the optimization of the materials and system structure remains unclear because of the lack of evaluation methods in unity for the output efficiency. In this review, a few key concerns about different dimensional materials and systems that determine the characteristics of DSSG are explored. Quantitative analysis, including calculations and methods for the solar–thermal conversion efficiency, evaporation rate, and energy loss, is employed to evaluate the materials and systems from the point of view of ultimate utilization. This article focuses on the relationship between the system dimension and energy efficiency and notes opportunities for future system design and commercialization of DSSG.

Mechatronized maximum power point tracking for electric field energy harvesting sensor

Electric field energy harvesting is a promising solution to energize a variety of self-sustainable wireless sensor nodes, which may be used in next-generation smart-grids. In this work, a low-power energy harvesting system targeting to extract energy from the electric field around energized wires is presented. Unlike the conventional electric field harvesters, the generator described in this work is intended on contactless household low voltage applications. A low-power design methodology to reduce power dissipation and to increase the harvested power has been implemented, considering the electric field scarcity in household applications and a variety of challenging design issues. In addition, the proposed harvester is equipped with a mechatronized maximum power point tracking system, that is used to automatically varies the location of the electrodes until harvesting the maximum power. The results show that the harvested power rises by approximately 94%, with a power density of 0.04 μW/cm2 in non-contact applications. Since the electric field is relatively low in residential environments, these results are highly promising to develop sensor nodes.

Design and Optimization of Piezoelectric Transducer (PZT-5H Stack)

Piezoelectric materials are widely used as an input transducer to harvest electrical energy. In this research, an optimized piezoelectric transducer (PZT-5H) has been designed for maximum efficiency. The transition system consists of an ideal mass, spring and damper. It has been modeled using MATLAB Simscape Toolbox™. Routh–Hurwitz criterion is applied to assess the stability of the transition system. The root-locus and step-response plots are generated for the stability analysis. Effects of varying stiffness, damping coefficient and thickness have been studied in designing of stack PZT-5H. The statistical analysis based on a Taguchi design of experiment and analysis of variance approaches is implemented to obtain the optimum output response from the energy harvester. Consequently, interval plots and a regression model are designed to establish an adequate relationship between the controllable factors and optimum output response of the energy harvester. The results are compared with the literature and they correlate well with each other.

Flexible hybrid piezoelectric-thermoelectric generator for harnessing electrical energy from mechanical and thermal energy

Thermoelectric and piezoelectric generators have drawn considerable attention for generating electrical energy from heat and mechanical vibrations for replacing the commercially available rechargeable batteries. In this report, we have fabricated flexible hybrid device by combining of the piezoelectric nanogenerator (PVDF-ZnO) and thermoelectric generator (n-leg and p-leg made of Bi2Te3-RGO (Reduced Graphene Oxide) and Sb2Te3-RGO, respectively) by simple chemical solution method. The focus of this research is to integrate thermoelectric and piezoelectric in a small flexible device to harvest electrical energy from both thermal and mechanical energies. The output power of thermoelectric generator is ∼1.8 nW at a temperature difference of 4 K and the output power of piezoelectric generator is ∼1.2 µW.

Bioelectrochemically-assisted vermibiofilter process enhancing stabilization of sewage sludge with synchronous electricity generation

Bioelectrochemically-assisted vermifilter (VBFBE) with sewage sludge as the anode fuel was constructed to accelerate composting of sewage sludge, which could increase the quality of the compost and harvest electric energy in comparison with vermicomposting and electrochemical only. Results revealed that the sludge stabilization with a higher soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) and lower NH4+-H during 40 days of composting. At the composting, pH, C/N, electrical conductivity (EC) and germination index (GI) results demonstrated that the maturity degree of VBFBE4 was higher than that of other VBFBE. The VBFBE4 yielded a voltage of 1.024 V and maximum power density of 105.28 mW/m2 on 3th day. The bacteria in VBFBE4 were richer and higher in terms of diversity than those in other VBFBE, that was demonstrated that combination vermicomposting and electrochemistry could improve the sludge stabilization degree, accelerate sludge composting process and enhance composting maturity.

Numerical Simulation on Structure Reliability of Electric Field Energy Harvesting Device at Tower Side under Typhoon Weather

As an unconventional power supply for on-line monitoring equipment, how to arrange the electric field energy harvesting device at the tower side and ensure its structural reliability in typhoon weather is worth further discussion. From the point of view of installation practicability, this paper adopts magnetic suction device, taking into account the T-shaped and circular cross-sections and modeling them. Through fluid-solid mechanical coupling simulation, the force and deformation of the device under different airflow velocities are obtained. The expression of minimum magnet suction which can ensure that the device is adsorbed stably at the side of the tower is deduced and used as the main index to measure the reliability of the structure of the device. Compared with the two kinds of device structures, the structure reliability of T-shaped collector is difficult to meet at higher wind speed, while the cylindrical collector is more reliable even when the wind speed gets high enough.

Proposal of Wind Vibrational Power Generator Using Magnetostrictive Material

Wind turbine is the most effective power generation device. However, it works efficiently only in large-scale applications. Recent technological advancements in renewables and energy generation focus on harvesting kinetic energy from low-speed winds in much smaller regions, such as air-conditioning ducts. In this paper, we propose a simple wind vibrational power generator that utilizes magnetostrictive material to harvest electrical energy from low-speed wind. Magnetostrictive materials undergo large variations in magnetic flux upon the application of external force, such by wind-induced vibration, generating electromotive force. Our vibration power generator uses an iron–gallium (Fe–Ga) alloy, which has extremely high sensitivity and energy conversion efficiency. Through a wind tunnel experiment, the generator was confirmed to be suitable for power generation from low wind-speed regimes, such as air-conditioning ducts. The device used a wind receiving part made of a thin rectangular plate of polylactic acid (PLA) resin and a power generating part. It was achieved by passing a stream of wind around the plate to produce a vortex in its wake region and induce a cross-flow vibration, in which the device sensed and converted into electrical energy. In essence, vortex excitation helped in generating power even at near streamlined flow.

Nonlinear adaptive control of microbial fuel cell with two species in a single chamber

Microbial fuel cells are emerging devices with an ability to harvest electrical energy from wastewater. We develop an integrated control-oriented model with uncertain parameters and a nonlinear adaptive control scheme that can estimate parameters on-line so as to provide robustness against parametric uncertainties with influent substrate concentration as an input variable for a single chamber unit with two bacterial species. In presence of parametric uncertainties, the closed-loop characteristics of the substrate concentration and influent substrate concentration are analyzed through lyapunov stability analysis and validated through appropriate simulation work. The results indicate that the suggested adaptive compensation scheme provides satisfactory performance in presence of parametric uncertainties.

Energy Harvesting With Single-Sided Linear Induction Machines Featuring Secondary Conductive Coating

With the continuously broadening application area of Internet of Things (IoT), robust energy harvesters and power conditioning units for supplying remote sensors and actuators are gaining importance. A single-sided linear induction machine (SLIM) with solid secondary operating in generator mode could meet these requirements as it can harvest electric energy from the kinetic energy of a moving conductive body (secondary). Therefore, the energy harvesting performance of SLIMs is studied in this paper, using analytical models, which are derived with special attention to the case where a conductive coating is applied on the mover-a simple and practical modification that is shown to increase the harvester performance significantly. Measurements are given for three different secondary materials and stator geometries. It is shown that 15 W of electrical power can be harvested with 14% efficiency over an air gap of 0.5 mm from a copper-coated steel mover with a surface speed of 29 m/s, covering only 17 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> of the surface area.

A Mechanical Vibration-induced Electric Energy Generation (MVEG) and Applications to Ride Quality of Vehicles and International Roughness Index (IRI)

A mechanical vibration-induced, electric energy harvesting method is discussed with applications to vibration analyses of systems of vehicles, motorboats, trains, machines and bridges, etc.. The research has evolved from the analysis of International Roughness Index (IRI), which studies roughness of road-surface as longitudinal vibrational motions in a vehicle measured with a quarter-car simulation (QCS) or Global Positioning System (GPS) with sensors such as gyro sensor and magnetometer sensor. The electric energy-convertible vibrations with information of roughness of road surface are extracted by way of an mechanoelectric energy conversion, and an energy harvesting technology suitable for the system of vehicles is discussed. The mechanical vibration-induced electric current is also suitable for IRI information measurement as well as a measure for ride quality of vehicles.

Simulation of a Self-Excited Power Generation System for Dielectric Elastomer Generation

In recent years, global warming is a serious international problem. We focused on dielectric elastomer power generation to solve the problem. The dielectric elastomer generation has characteristics such as compactness and flexibility. The dielectric elastomer generation can harvest electric energy from renewable energy sources such as sea wave, wind, and human motion. However, the dielectric elastomer generation has a weakness dependent on an external power supply. In this paper, we proposed a self-excited dielectric elastomer generation circuit using piezoelectric elements. As a circuit verification method, circuit simulations are performed using MATLAB / Simulink, and the circuit behavior is confirmed from the results. From results, it is considered that dielectric elastomer generation can be performed without using the external power supply.

Shark Skin Inspired Riblet Microstructures As a Novel Solid-Liquid Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Energy Harvesting

Nature has provided a number of innovative inspirations for human beings to design artificial systems in order to mimic the excellent performance of existing biological systems. One of the most important and unexplored example in this regard is the shark skin. The surface of the shark skin consists of a three-dimensional rib pattern which displays exceptional super-hydrophobicity effect and drag reduction effect compared to the absolutely smooth skin textures. Inspired by this characteristic feature found in nature, a novel triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been developed for harvesting electrical energy arising from the solid-liquid interface. By integrating the shark-skin patterns with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the as-fabricated biomimetic surface exhibits excellent super-hydrophobicity. Moreover, the presence of the shark skin structures on the surface potentially enlarges the contact area thus inducing better intimate contact and reducing the effect of residual liquid on the triboelectric output. Owing to the aforementioned facts, our bio-inspired TENG would generate more accurate signals and thereby be a new paradigm for wider range of applications.

Analysis, Design, and Implementation of an Elastomer Generator Based Energy Harvesting Scheme

Dielectric elastomer generator (DEG) is a special variable capacitor generator used to harvest electrical energy from ambient mechanical vibrations, such as waves, building vibrations, wind, and human movement. The DEG, by virtue of its variable capacitance, converts the applied mechanical energy into electrical form. For successful energy harvesting, the DEG requires controlled charging and discharging operations. Thus, the energy harvesting circuits, used to charge and discharge the DEG, must work in tandem with the mechanical vibrations. The energy harvested during a single cycle of DEG operation increases with an increase in the DEG operating voltage. Hence, energy harvesting circuits must drive the DEG at high voltage levels. These two requirements make the energy harvesting circuit design a challenging job. In this paper, a novel energy harvesting system is proposed to drive the DEG without needing a position sensor, a high-voltage source, or a high turns ratio transformer. The theory of the proposed scheme is explained and validated with experiments performed on a prototype DEG. The control implemented leads to a special intermittent operation of the energy recovery circuit, which is also introduced. 2.597 mJ energy was harvested from a single elastomer film of 10 cm diameter with 2.3 nF capacitance in relaxed condition.

Improved performance of ferroelectric nanocomposite flexible film based triboelectric nanogenerator by controlling surface morphology, polarizability, and hydrophobicity

In recent years, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been attracting lots of attention for harvesting electrical energy from mechanical energy, because of its simplicity in designing, cost-effectiveness, and high output power. In the present trend, the performance of TENG is improved mainly by surface modification using complex techniques. In the present work, we have demonstrated enhanced triboelectrification between polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) by incorporating ZnO nanorods into PVDF polymer. The fabricated ZnO-PVDF/PTFE based TENG showed 21% enhanced output voltage and 60% enhanced short-circuit current in comparison to PVDF/PTFE based TENG with an instantaneous output power density of ∼10.6 μW/cm2. The increase in triboelectrification comes not only from the enhancement in β-phase content, which leads to increase polarizability, but also from the enhancement in surface roughness, hydrophobicity, and a decrease in the work function of PVDF after incorporating ZnO nanorods.

CO2 regenerative battery for energy harvesting from ammonia-based post-combustion CO2 capture

Amine-based CO2 capture is considered the most mature technology for industrial application in coal-fired power stations, but its large energy requirement represents a major barrier to commercial deployment. Here, we introduce a novel approach involving a CO2 regenerative amine-based battery (CRAB), which harvests the chemical energy from amine-based CO2 capture through a metal-mediated electrochemical process. The CRAB process uses the dual ability of amines (i.e. ammonia) to reversibly react with CO2 and complex with metal ions (i.e. copper) to convert the CO2 reaction enthalpy into electrical energy. To determine how the CRAB process harvests energy from CO2 capture, we established a validated chemical model for CRAB system which was used to predict the electrode potentials, and conceive a CRAB cycle that links CO2 absorption/desorption with the electrochemical process. Modelling results indicate that CRAB could at best produce 8.4 kJe/mol CO2 from a copper/ammonia based energy harvesting system, while optimised CRAB experimentally discharged 6.5 kJe/mol CO2 of electrical energy with a maximum power density of 32 W/m2. When CRAB is coupled with an advanced ammonia process, the experimentally achieved energy output could reduce capture energy requirement to 0.177 MW h/tonne CO2 (including CO2 compression to 150 bar), with a high thermodynamic efficiency of CO2 capture of 62.1% (relative to thermodynamic minimum work of 0.11 MW h/tonne CO2). Our results demonstrate the technical feasibility of the CRAB system to harvest electrical energy from CO2 capture process, providing a pathway to significantly reduce capture energy requirement.

Microbial fuel cell–based self‐powered biosensor for environment monitoring in IoT cloud framework

SummaryRenewable energy sources are useful for sustainable monitoring, but still very limited today due to various implementation constraints. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are considered a promising renewable power source for remote monitoring applications. They are used as wireless temperature sensors and biosensors due to their ability in powering environmental sensors. MFCs can provide ultralow and dynamic power, and hence, energy improvement is crucial for self‐powered biosensors. Cloud computing–based IoT framework is proposed for environment monitoring using MFC‐based biosensors. This paper presents the electric energy harvesting from Oryza Sativa plants with bacteria as the catalyst. It adopts the technology of MFC in the plants to extract the maximum energy. An effective power management with IoT cloud framework is presented in this work to independently operate multiple MFCs to generate maximum power. Independently operated MFCs with electrically isolated electrodes have been utilized in the design of a suitable power management system. Cloud computing is utilized in this work to process the data generated in continuous monitoring of environment. Experimental results show that the proposed framework can achieve sustainable power for sensor nodes and achieves maximum performance in environment monitoring using cloud‐based IoT platform.

On the validity of plane state assumptions in the bending of bimorph piezoelectric cantilevers

We assess the accuracy of plane state assumptions in modeling the bending of bimorph piezoelectric cantilevers. Reference solutions are obtained by means of fully three-dimensional simulations. We solve a model, compliant with the standard theoretical background, able to deal with large deflections, and aimed at estimating the electrical energy harvesting potential. We show that the two assumptions of plane stress and plane strain yield very different results in terms of strain and therefore lead to substantially different estimates of electrical power. The plane stress state is the best approximation of narrow cantilevers, while the plane strain is suited for wide ones. The validity ranges are defined for each of the two, in terms of the generated electrical power. More specifically, the plane stress assumption better approximates the reference solution in the range [Formula: see text]. By contrast, the plane strain condition yields results closer to three-dimensional solution for ratios [Formula: see text] with W the width and H the total thickness of the solid. Other aspects are affected by the modeling approach, such as the estimation of maximum deformation and, to a minor extent, of resonance frequencies.

Energy Harvesting from Rotating Motion of In-Pipe Robot Cleaning Device

In-pipe robot (IPR) needs a continuous and constant power supply for its operation. This research is a continuation from the previous IPR: D200 for cleaning operation. The objective of this research is to study the possibility of harvesting electrical energy from IPR and how much electrical output can be generated from the proposed solution. The concept is to re-use kinetic energy from high speed rotation of the IPR cleaning device to be converted into electrical energy which can be used to recharge the main battery. Two types of circuits have been developed namely unregulated charging circuit and regulated charging circuit. Both developed circuits are simulated using Livewire software. The developed circuits are then validated using experiment to measure the output voltage. Simulation results show that the unregulated charging circuit can produce output voltage of 10.90V while regulated charging circuit produces an output voltage of 5.47V. Experiments have confirmed that unregulated charging is able to produce higher voltage of 6.93V as compared to regulated charging circuit. The experimental results are lower than simulation results due to power loss during power transmission of the actual circuits. In the meantime, the unregulated charging circuit produced inconsistent output compared to the regulated charging circuit. Therefore, the regulated charging circuit will be considered for the IPR: D200 applications as well as other similar applications.

Engineering organic/inorganic hierarchical photocathode for efficient and stable quasi-solid-state photoelectrochemical fuel cells

Photoelectrochemical fuel cells (PFCs) serve as a model system for harvesting electric energy from solar and biomass based on anodic fuel oxidation and cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, the sluggish ORR thereby limits the performance of PFC. Herein, we present a novel photocathode with polyterthiophene (pTTh) coated p-type cuprous oxide (Cu2O) (pTTh-Cu2O) that achieves boosted ORR kinetics, as well as exhibits remarkably improved photostability. By utilizing a hydrogel electrolyte which can avoid the leakage and volatilization of liquid electrolyte, a quasi-solid-state PFC device with eminent stability that consists of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) decorated TiO2 nanorod arrays (Au-TiO2 NRAs) photoanode and pTTh-Cu2O photocathode can be assembled. And the fabricated PFC exhibits outstanding performance that yields an open circuit voltage of 0.78 V and a maximum power density of 130 μW·cm−2 utilizing glucose as feeding under illumination. Furthermore, the as-prepared quasi-solid-state PFC demonstrates its potential for practical application by lighting a commercial light-emitting diode (LED). It is our believe that such rational design not only can be expanded for organic wastes degradation and water splitting, but also shed a light on the development of portable electronics driven by solar.

The Role of the Slope on Taro Leaf Surface to Produce Electrical Energy

This research focused on Electrical Energy Harvesting using taro leaves colocasia esculenta L coated electrode and water droplet passed. The advantage of this research lies in the concept of hydrophobic using natural material from taro leaves colocasia esculenta L, so it is environmentally friendly. In this study using an external circuit of capacitors and bridge rectifier that are connected with aluminum foil as electrodes. From the results, shows that optimal voltage and stable at three drops/second with a slope of 150 degrees produces 78 mV. Electrical energy can be produced because there are energy triggering electrons to jump. Energy obtained from the repulsion of the structure of the leaf surface morphology and the attraction of the element O (oxygen) in the water droplet triggers the surface to become more superhydrophobic. The superhydrophobic surface of the leaf as a membrane to deliver ion flows through the electrode as the way charge flows to the capacitor that is read as the voltage on the oscilloscope. Between the water droplet and the leaf surface, generate the contact angle, so the leaf surface to become superhydrophobic. The role of superhydrophobic properties and slope of the leaf surface is significant to produce electrical energy.