Optimization of a piezoelectric wind energy harvester with a stepped beam
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DOI 10.1007/s12206-020-1001-y
Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 34 (11) 2020 Original Article DOI 10.1007/s12206-020-1001-y Keywords: · Evolution strategy · Finite element method · Optimization design · Piezoelectric wind energy harvester · Sequential quadratic programming
Optimization of a piezoelectric wind energy harvester with a stepped beam Jiantao Zhang, Dong Qu, Zhou Fang and Chang Shu School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
Abstract
Correspondence to: Jiantao Zhang [email protected]
Citation: Zhang, J., Qu, D., Fang, Z., Shu, C. (2020). Optimization of a piezoelectric wind energy harvester with a stepped beam. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 34 (11) (2020) 4357~4366. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-1001-y
Received October 4th, 2019 Revised
June 21st, 2020
A galloping-based piezoelectric energy harvester using the stepped cantilever beam is proposed and investigated. Transverse galloping is induced with the square cross sectioned bluff body. When the wind speed exceeds the critical wind speed, the self-excited oscillation of the harvester occurs and more output power is generated. To obtain the optimal design of the energy harvester, the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) and the evolution strategy (ES) are employed to determine the optimal solution. The finite element method is used to calculate the output voltage of the harvester. After optimization, the output voltage of the optimal harvester is significantly improved in comparison with that of the initial one. Two prototype harvesters based on the initial and optimal dimensions were fabricated and measured experimentally. An open-circuit rms voltage of 36 V and an output power of 0.52 mW were obtained at the wind speed of 14 m/s for the optimal harvester. They are about 8.3 times and 4.73 times of that of the initial harvester. The validity of the optimal design is verified with the experimental results.
Accepted August 19th, 2020 † Recommended by Editor No-cheol Park
1. Introduction
© The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Comparing with the battery of wireless sensor nodes, the micro energy harvesting has potential advantage in terms of increasing lifetime, decreasing maintenance efforts and economical cost. Recent technological developments have made the extraction of renewable energy from various sources such as the sun, geothermal energy, wind, vibration, and many other sources [1, 2]. In particular, the wind energy has drawn the attention of many researchers for its unique properties, such as renewable, omnipresent, freely available, and environment friendly [3-6]. But the system efficiency converting wind energy to electricity is still low. Many researches have been conducted to enhance the wind energy conversion efficiency of the piezoelectric harvesters. Zhao et al. proposed a method to significantly enhance the power generation capability of a wind energy harvester. A beam stiffener is atta
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