Constructive Aerodynamic Interference in a Network of Weakly Coupled Flutter-Based Energy Harvesters

Abstract

Converting flow-induced vibrations into electricity for low-power generation has received growing attention over the past few years. Aeroelastic phenomena, good candidates to yield high energy performance in renewable wind energy harvesting (EH) systems, can play a pivotal role in providing sufficient power for extended operation with little or no battery replacement. In this paper, a numerical model and a co-simulation approach have been developed to study a new EH device for power generation. We investigate the problem focusing on a weakly aerodynamically coupled flutter-based EH system. It consists of two flexible wings anchored by cantilevered beams with attached piezoelectric layers, undergoing nonlinear coupled bending–torsion limit cycle oscillations. Besides the development of individual EH devices, further issues are posed when considering multiple objects for realizing a network of devices and magnifying the extracted power due to nonlinear synergies and constructive interferences. This work investigates the effect of various external conditions and physical parameters on the performance of the piezoaeroelastic array of devices. From the viewpoint of applications, we are most concerned about whether an EH can generate sufficient power under a variable excitation. The results of this study can be used for the design and integration of low-energy wind generation technologies into buildings, bridges, and built-in sensor networks in aircraft structures.

Multimodal piezoelectric wind energy harvester for aerospace applications

“…Researchers have demonstrated that the piezoelectric‐fluttering phase is the most dominant and efficient region of harvesting electrical energy for aerospace applications 38,39 . After the flutter‐velocity, a disturbance in the stability of the oscillations has been noticed which adversely affects the coupled load of the piezoelectric energy harvester 40,41 .…”

“…36,37 Researchers have demonstrated that the piezoelectricfluttering phase is the most dominant and efficient region of harvesting electrical energy for aerospace applications. 38,39 After the flutter-velocity, a disturbance in the stability of the oscillations has been noticed which adversely affects the coupled load of the piezoelectric energy harvester. 40,41 Therefore, a new concept of limit cycle oscillations 42 has been introduced to sustain those unstable oscillations, and over the past few years, this emerging concept has been widely used in aerospace applications for powering different sensors or MEMS devices from the harvested energy.…”

Investigation of a Portable Wind Tunnel for Energy Harvesting

“…Wind tunnels are considered an important research tool for designing and evaluating aerospace vehicles [1,2], wind energy harvesters [3], bridges [4,5], automobiles [6], and buildings [7][8][9]. The current experimental investigations for energy harvesting are mainly conducted in larger volume wind tunnels.…”