Flutter-Mill : a New Energy-Harvesting Device

This paper introduces the concept of a new energy-harvesting device, i.e., the flutter-mill. It has been found that cantilevered flexible plates subjected to axial flow lose stability by flutter at sufficiently high flow velocity. The flow-induced vibrations of this kind of fluid-structure interaction system can be utilized to extract energy from the surrounding fluid flow for generation of electric power. In this paper, the dynamics of two-dimensional cantilevered flexible plates in axial flow is summarized, with special attention given to the energy transfer between the plate and the flow. Based on the theoretical work, key design parameters of the proposed flutter-mill can be determined and the power-extraction capacity is preliminarily evaluated.