Energy Harvesting from Aerodynamic Instabilities: Current prospect and Future Trends

Energy Harvesting Technologies for Structural Health Monitoring of Airplane Components—A Review

“…A review of the current prospects and future trends for aerodynamic EH in aircraft applications, with considerations on the layout and advancement of EH devices based on aerodynamic instabilities, was recently performed [ 41 ]. The underlying principles rely generally on airflow (von Karman) vortices induced by obstacles (i.e., bluff bodies) or aerofoil sections that induce the fluttering or galloping of structures placed in such an environment (cf.…”

“…In case of the herein considered fixed wing aircraft, due to their abundance on the airplane and some of its typical structural elements ( Figure 3 ), mechanical vibrations (including that induced by the flow of air around the airplane) and thermal gradients, used separately or, to increase the possibility of providing the required energy constantly and reliably, simultaneously, are considered as the most promising sources for EH-based autonomous SHM sensor nodes [ 8 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Although some initial studies of integrated SHM solutions, combining advanced microelectronics with sensors, EH devices, power management, time synchronization, and web-based data distribution, have been proposed [ 44 ], due to the often varying nature of the power levels attainable from the physical energy sources in aircraft, as well as the above estimated needed power levels for an acoustic-based SHM sensor node with the coupled data elaboration and transmission modules, which could very well reach several hundred mW, a careful investigation of the available EH techniques and their applicability to the case considered herein has to be made.…”

“…In case of the herein considered fixed wing aircraft, due to their abundance on the airplane and some of its typical structural elements (Figure 3), mechanical vibrations (including that induced by the flow of air around the airplane) and thermal gradients, used separately or, to increase the possibility of providing the required energy constantly and reliably, simultaneously, are considered as the most promising sources for EH-based autonomous SHM sensor nodes [8,[41][42][43]. Although some initial studies of integrated SHM solutions, combining advanced microelectronics with sensors, EH devices, power management, time synchronization, and web-based data distribution, have been In fact, EH-the process of collecting low-level ambient energy and converting it into electrical energy, is increasingly shown as viable means for obtaining autonomous sensor networks for SHM, communication, transportation, air and aerospace vehicles, robotics, MEMS devices, wearables, forest fire detection, and Internet of Things (IoT) components.…”

A Review on Mechanisms for Piezoelectric-Based Energy Harvesters

“…In order to harvest energy from FSI using PZT, two types of galloping mechanisms can be used: transverse galloping [91,[152][153][154][155] and wake galloping [91,156,157], as shown in Figures 11 and 12, respectively. The PZT patch is attached on the fixed end of an elastic cantilever beam with an external circuit from which it can be shocked with variable resistance.…”

An iterative finite element method for piezoelectric energy harvesting composite with implementation to lifting structures under Gust Load Conditions

“…Detailed reviews on numerous studies of the piezoaeroelastic energy harvesting are given [7,8,[31][32][33]. Although significant attention was given to the piezoaeroelastic energy harvesting, the lack of study on a more practical aerodynamic loading is concerned [8].…”