Flow-Induced Energy Harvesting : Conceptual Design and Numerical Analyses of a Piezoelectric Bender for Smart Building Applicatio

This study focuses on the conceptual design and the numerical analysis of an Energy Harvesting (EH) device, based on piezoelectric materials, for the sustainability of smart buildings. Before that, a comprehensive literature review on the topic takes place. The device consists in an aerodynamic fin attached to a piezoelectric element that makes use of the airflow to harvest energy. The principal utilization of this device is for energy autonomous sensors, with applications in smart buildings. A performance-based parametric analysis is conducted (in ANSYS®) in order to assess the optimal values of some design and operating condition parameters, including length, width, thickness, constitutive material of the bender and velocity and turbulence intensity of the incoming airflow. The response parameters used for evaluating the performances include the bender maximum tip displacement, the bender vibration frequency, and the rms of the voltage generated by the device. Considerations are made on possible applications in other sectors (structures and transportations infrastructures).

[1]  Dung-An Wang,et al.  Piezoelectric energy harvesting from flow-induced vibration , 2010 .

[2]  Anis Nurashikin Nordin,et al.  Vibration Energy Harvesting using Single and Comb-shaped Piezoelectric Beam Structures: Modeling and Simulation , 2012 .

[3]  Daniele Davino,et al.  Effects of hysteresis and eddy currents in magnetostrictive harvesting devices , 2012 .

[4]  Igor Neri,et al.  Vibration Energy Harvesting: Linear and Nonlinear Oscillator Approaches , 2011 .

[5]  Adnan Harb,et al.  Energy harvesting: State-of-the-art , 2011 .

[6]  A. Cuadras,et al.  Multimodal piezoelectric wind energy harvesters , 2011 .

[7]  Yong Zhang,et al.  A model for the energy harvesting performance of shear mode piezoelectric cantilever , 2012 .

[8]  J. M. Gilbert,et al.  Comparison of energy harvesting systems for wireless sensor networks , 2008, Int. J. Autom. Comput..

[9]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  PicoRadio Supports Ad Hoc Ultra-Low Power Wireless Networking , 2000, Computer.

[10]  B. Morvaj,et al.  Demonstrating smart buildings and smart grid features in a smart energy city , 2011, Proceedings of the 2011 3rd International Youth Conference on Energetics (IYCE).

[11]  Paolo Fiorini,et al.  Energy autonomous sensor systems: Towards a ubiquitous sensor technology , 2010, Microelectron. J..

[12]  X. D. Xie,et al.  Wind energy harvesting with a piezoelectric harvester , 2013 .

[13]  Xiaotong Gao,et al.  Flow Energy Harvesting Using Piezoelectric Cantilevers With Cylindrical Extension , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[14]  Paul K. Wright,et al.  Vortex shedding induced energy harvesting from piezoelectric materials in heating, ventilation and air conditioning flows , 2012 .

[15]  Seong Kwang Hong,et al.  Feasibility study on application of piezoelectricity to convert vibrations of Korea Train eXpress , 2012, Proceedings of ISAF-ECAPD-PFM 2012.

[16]  Quan Wang,et al.  Optimal design of a piezoelectric coupled beam for power harvesting , 2012 .

[17]  Meiling Zhu,et al.  Design study of piezoelectric energy-harvesting devices for generation of higher electrical power using a coupled piezoelectric-circuit finite element method , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[18]  S. Zelenika,et al.  Mechanical analysis of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting devices , 2010, The 33rd International Convention MIPRO.

[19]  J.M. Conrad,et al.  A survey of energy harvesting sources for embedded systems , 2008, IEEE SoutheastCon 2008.

[20]  Siyuan He,et al.  Improving Power Density of a Cantilever Piezoelectric Power Harvester Through a Curved L-Shaped Proof Mass , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[21]  Ronald F. Gibson,et al.  A review of recent research on mechanics of multifunctional composite materials and structures , 2010 .

[22]  M. Rguiti,et al.  Modeling and characterization of piezoelectric cantilever bending sensor for energy harvesting , 2011 .

[23]  Konstantinos Gkoumas.  Energy harvesting in bridges and transportation infrastructure networks: state of art, recent trends and future developments , 2012 .