Enhancing piezoelectric energy harvesting from the flow-induced vibration of a circular cylinder using dual splitters

Abstract

Ambient energy harvesting from the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of circular cylinders has been extensively studied in recent years. However, the effect of multiple splitters attached to the cylinder surface in different configurations on the energy harvesting performance is not well understood to date. This study is focused on enhancing the piezoelectric energy harvesting from the flow-induced vibration of a circular cylinder by using two symmetric splitters in different relative angular positions with respect to the oncoming uniform flow. Both wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations are carried out to study the effect of seven different installation angles (α = 0∘, 30∘, 60∘, 90∘, 120∘, 150∘, and 180∘) of the dual splitters on the energy harvesting efficiency with the increasing flow velocity. It is observed that, in the absence of any splitter, the energy harvesting performance is constricted to the lock-in regime for the VIV of the circular cylinder. When the dual splitters are introduced at the positions of 0∘ and 120∘, energy harvesting is completely suppressed, and no voltage is generated. The transition from VIV to galloping is observed for the positions of 30∘, 60∘, 150∘, and 180∘. Among them, 60∘ is the optimal position, where the maximum output voltage increases up to 188.61% of that obtained from the harvester without any splitters. VIV with a reduced maximum output voltage is observed at the position of 90∘. The underlying vortex interactions behind the transitional dynamics are investigated by analyzing the flow-field. It is observed that the vortex formation length increases with the increase in the splitter angle, and the secondary vortices also play a key role behind the VIV to galloping transition. This study systematically carries out the performance analysis of the VIV-based energy harvester with multiple splitters for the first time in the literature and directly contributes to the optimized design of an innovative wind energy harvester with multiple splitter configuration.

Recent advancement of flow-induced piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting techniques: principles, structures, and nonlinear designs

“…These structures could alter the direction and strength of flow fields around the bluff bodies, resulting in stronger dynamic forces to achieve a better energy harvesting performance. Besides, various attachments on smooth cylinders were designed for improving the structural dynamics of bluff bodies, such as Y-shaped attachments [16] , two symmetric splitters in different relative angular designs [36] , and small-size triangular-and rod-shaped protrusions [37][38] (see Fig. 6).…”

“…Fig. 6 VIV-based energy harvesters with different design attachments on smooth cylinders [16,[36][37][38] (color online)…”

A Novel Bird-Shape Broadband Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for Low Frequency Vibrations

“…The commonly used approaches for harvesting ambient vibration energy include triboelectric, electromagnetic, electrostatic [ 3 ], and piezoelectric energy harvesting. The merits of simple structure, large power density, and simple operation mechanisms make piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEHs) widely employed in the ocean [ 4 ], pavement [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], and vibration energy harvesting [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Research into transducer materials has laid the foundations for the emergence of PEHs [ 11 ] The principle of the piezoelectric energy harvesting technology [ 12 ] has been studied for many years [ 13 , 14 ], and a certain research outcome has been achieved [ 15 ].…”

Experimental comparative analysis of hybrid energy harvesters exposed to flow-induced vibrations

“…Wang et al 18 investigated vortex-induced vibration-based energy harvesting studies by connecting two symmetrical splitters to the side where the galloping profile receives the airflow. Their study investigated the effects of different splitters’ angle values and air velocities experimentally and numerically.…”