Piezoelectric Wind Energy Harvesting from Self-Excited Vibration of Square Cylinder

Abstract EN

Self-excited vibration of a square cylinder has been considered as an effective way in harvesting piezoelectric wind energy.

In present work, both of the vortex-induced vibration and unstable galloping phenomenon process are investigated in a reduced velocity ( U r = U / ω n · D ) range of 4 ≤ U r ≤ 20 with load resistance ranging in 100 Ω ≤ R ≤ 1 MΩ.

The vortex-induced vibration covers presynchronization, synchronization, and postsynchronization branches.

An aeroelectromechanical model is given to describe the coupling of the dynamic equation of the fluid-structure interaction and the equation of Gauss law.

The effects of load resistance are investigated in both the open-circuit and close-circuit system by a linear analysis, which covers the parameters of the transverse displacement, aerodynamic force, output voltage, and harvested power utilized to measure the efficiency of the system.

The highest level of the transverse displacement and the maximum value of harvested power of synchronization branch during the vortex-induced vibration and galloping are obtained.

The results show that the large-amplitude galloping at high wind speeds can generate energy.

Additionally, energy can be harvested by utilization of the lock-in phenomenon of vortex-induced vibration under low wind speed.