Flow Energy Harvesting Using Piezoelectric Cantilevers With Cylindrical Extension

Author

Xiaotong Gao ; Wei-Heng Shih ; Shih, W.Y.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mater. Sci. & Eng., Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA, USA

Volume

60

Issue

3

fYear

2013

fDate

3/1/2013 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1116

Lastpage

1118

Abstract

We present a new piezoelectric flow energy harvester (PFEH) based on a piezoelectric cantilever (PEC) with a cylindrical extension. The flow-induced vibration of the cylindrical extension causes the PEC to vibrate at the natural frequency of the PFEH. The PFEH provides a low-cost, compact, and scalable power source for small electronics by harvesting energy from ambient flows such as wind and water streams. Prototypes were tested in both laminar and turbulent air flows, demonstrating the feasibility of the design. Turbulence excitation was found to be the dominant driving mechanism of the PFEH with additional vortex shedding excitation contribution in the lock-in region.

Keywords

cantilevers; energy harvesting; piezoelectric devices; PEC; PFEH; cylindrical extension; flow energy harvesting; flow-induced vibration; laminar air flows; lock-in region; piezoelectric cantilevers; piezoelectric flow energy harvester; scalable power source; turbulence excitation; turbulent air flows; vortex shedding excitation contribution; water streams; wind streams; Energy harvesting; Materials; Resonant frequency; Sensors; Vibrations; Voltage measurement; Wind speed; Flow energy harvesting; flow-induced vibration (FIV); piezoelectric cantilever (PEC); piezoelectric energy harvester;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0278-0046

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TIE.2012.2187413

Filename

6151129