An aeroelastic flutter based electromagnetic energy harvester with wind speed augmenting funnel

This paper investigates the efficiency of wind speed augmenting funnel incorporated with an aero-elastic-flutter based, energy harvester. Flutter phenomenon has been used to convert wind flow energy into mechanical vibration, which is then transformed into electrical power. However, aero-elastic flutter initiates only when the wind speed is over a certain flutter onset speed and the wind flow direction is nearly perpendicular to the device, which limits continuous power generation. A wind-flow-contracting funnel device is designed to direct the wind flow to the flutter device and magnify the wind speed. The preliminary CFD analysis and wind tunnel test show that the funnel can magnify wind speed by approximately 20 % within an incident angle of 30 degrees, which leads to an increase in the voltage output of the device.

[1]  Paul K. Wright,et al.  A piezoelectric vibration based generator for wireless electronics , 2004 .

[2]  Robert H. Scanlan,et al.  The action of flexible bridges under wind, I: Flutter theory† , 1978 .

[3]  Jonathan E. Cooper,et al.  Introduction to Aircraft Aeroelasticity and Loads , 2007 .

[4]  In-Ho Kim,et al.  An energy harvesting system using the wind-induced vibration of a stay cable for powering a wireless sensor node , 2011 .

[5]  I. Vadan,et al.  The funnel effect and its practical benefits in wind applications , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Automation, Quality and Testing, Robotics (AQTR).

[6]  Soon-Duck Kwon,et al.  A T-shaped piezoelectric cantilever for fluid energy harvesting , 2010 .

[7]  S. Beeby,et al.  Energy harvesting vibration sources for microsystems applications , 2006 .

[8]  A. Smits,et al.  Energy harvesting eel , 2001 .

[9]  Neil M. White,et al.  Design and fabrication of a new vibration-based electromechanical power generator , 2001 .

[10]  Niels N. Sørensen,et al.  Aeroelastic Stability of Suspension Bridges using CFD , 2007 .

[11]  Hod Lipson,et al.  Ambient wind energy harvesting using cross-flow fluttering , 2011 .

[12]  Hiroshi Tanaka,et al.  Aerodynamic flutter analysis of cable-supported bridges by multi-mode and full-mode approaches , 2000 .

[13]  Jian Shi,et al.  PVDF microbelts for harvesting energy from respiration , 2011 .

[14]  Matthew Bryant,et al.  Aeroelastic flutter energy harvester design: the sensitivity of the driving instability to system parameters , 2011 .