Piezoelectric energy harvesting experiments under combined aerodynamic and base excitation

Abstract

The behavior of film-type piezoelectric energy harvesters under simultaneous aerodynamic and base excitation was experimentally investigated. Two flutter type piezoelectric film transducers (LDT0-028K and LDT1-028K) were excited with the 31 excitation mode. The aerodynamic excitation was produced by a centrifugal fan. The base excitation was produced by a cone speaker driven by sinusoidal voltage waveforms in the frequency range of 20 to 250 Hz. This frequency range includes the two transducers’ resonant frequencies. The voltage output of the harvesters was monitored by an oscilloscope and the base excitation was monitored with acceleration measurements. The measured output voltage signals were analyzed by Fast Fourier Transformation. The tip deflection of the piezo-films was monitored with long exposure photography. Harvesting power output was estimated by simple calculations. The results are discussed aiming to support the optimal design of vibration energy harvesting layouts with piezoelectric transducers. To this end, information was extracted about the exploitable bandwidth of piezoelectric films.

On the Efficiency of a Piezoelectric Energy Harvester under Combined Aeroelastic and Base Excitation

“…The forced excitation of the film’s base induces an eigenfrequency shift of about 13 Hz for the system. The eigenfrequency shift to lower values is due to the large deflections of the piezoelectric film, which lead to a nonlinear behavior [ 14 , 40 ]. According to the results of Elvin [ 41 ], who employed a generalized nonlinear coupled finite element circuit simulation approach to study the performance of energy harvesters subjected to large deflections, nonlinear dynamic effects become significant when the transverse tip deflection exceeds 35% of the beam length.…”

“…Additionally, a PEH transducer installed on an HVAC duct is excited by the airflow in the duct and vibrating with the duct’s wall [ 13 ]. PEHs tend to vibrate on their eigenfrequency when subjected to airflow [ 14 ]. Flutter-type PEHs are elastic films clamped at their leading edge and free at their trailing edge.…”

“…In all cases, the models are supported by experimental validation, which allows a better insight into the harvester’s behavior. A previous paper by the authors [ 14 ] investigated two piezo film transducer types, placed on a specially devised experimental setup with combined excitation. The study brought insight into the frequency range with the maximum power output for piezo-film transducers by analyzing voltage output measurements.…”

“…This offers a realistic measurement of the harvested energy. The piezoelectric transducer LDT1-028K was used because of its performance during previous studies [ 14 ], and an experimental setup was devised in order to provide improved aerodynamic and base excitation for the specific transducer. The aerodynamic excitation of the harvester was chosen using findings from previously used experimental setups [ 29 ].…”

Adaptive and Robust Operation with Active Fuzzy Harvester under Nonstationary and Random Disturbance Conditions

“…This study focuses on piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting (PVEH). Important objectives of PVEH studies are to design a method that can output voltage efficiently from disturbances at identical scales [ 19 ] and a method that achieves effective harvesting under the vibration in real environments such as aerodynamic excited vibrations [ 20 , 21 ]. Introducing switch elements to a harvesting circuit and actively switching the circuit connections can improve the harvesting performance [ 22 ].…”