Capturing Flow Energy from Ocean and Wind

Abstract

Flow-induced energy harvesting has attracted more and more attention among researchers in both fields of the wind and the fluid. Piezoelectric energy harvesters and triboelectric nanogenerators are exploited to obtain superior performance and sustainability, and the electromagnetic conversion has been continuously improved in the meantime. Aiming at different circumstances, researchers have designed, manufactured, and tested a variety of energy harvesters. In this paper, we analyze the state-of-the-art energy harvesting techniques and categorize them based on the working environment, application targets, and energy conversion mechanisms. The trend of research endeavors is analyzed, and the advantages, existing problems of energy harvesters, and corresponding solutions of energy harvesters are assessed.Energies 2019, 12, 2184 2 of 22 pose a potential threat to human health. The environmental threat is more obvious for one-off batteries, which are not intended for replacement and recycling, resulting in appreciable pollution problems [13]. Harvesting energy from the environment instead of carrying a chemical battery around is safer, undoubtedly, for both humans and the nature. Safety and universality make environmental energy harvesting an attractive topic. Relatively speaking, energy harvesting has advantages, as follows: (a) Battery-less operations are feasible, (b) embedded systems are easy to wire, (c) the infrastructure is easy to retrofit, (d) labor is saved, or "fit and forget" [14], and (e) the equipment is lightweight. Some long-term monitor systems with low power consumption, such as sensors for building structure health detection, body information collection, and low-energy self-maintenance systems [15] usually need long-term stable energy supply. In practical applications, ocean climate detectors have an option to take advantage of the ocean by using tidal energy or wave energy, and bridge safety monitors can be recharged by wind flow to suit local conditions. Thus, ubiquitous flow energy provides a good energy harvesting option toward self-powered systems.Energy harvesting from flow environments flourishes with the development of the energy industry along the general trend. Various forms of flow energy, such as wave, tidal, water current, wind flow have been exploited and utilized [16]. The mass level of large flow energy harvester can reach 2 × 10 5 kg, where the energy harvesting magnitude can reach 18.2 KW [17]. Flow energy harvesters can also be minimized as small as a few centimeters and indicate energy harvesting density as 1-10 mW [18,19]. A variety of energy harvesters have been developed based on different energy conversion mechanisms. Among them, the large-scale electromagnetic energy harvester relies on large generators, suffering from complex structures [20]. The approach can produce energy in large magnitudes and can generate electricity feeding the grid for the industrial production process and daily life use. As for triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) and piezoelectric energy harvesters ...

Harvesting Energy from Planetary Gear Using Piezoelectric Material

“…Rotational mechanical energy is one of the important power sources for piezoelectric energy harvesting. Different types of rotational power sources have been used in the past decades for piezoelectric energy harvestings, such as rotational machines [6][7][8][9][10], human motion [11,12], vehicle tires [13][14][15][16][17], and even air, wind and fluids [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. They have been applied in different applications such as WSNs in any rotary machine [8,25], tire pressure-monitoring systems (TPMSs) [26][27][28], wearable devices, and medical implants [29][30][31][32].…”

Polysaccharide-based triboelectric nanogenerators: A review

“…On the other hand, TENGs have been used to harvest energy from low frequency sources (around 10 Hz and lower) such as human body motion, animal organs, and water motion, among others (Gong et al, 2019;Zhou, Liu, Wang, & Wang, 2020). The working principle of these TENGs is a combination of the triboelectric effect and the electrostatic induction (Fan, Tian, & Wang, 2012).…”

A Review of Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvesting with Magnetic Coupling Based on Different Structural Characteristics

“…There are some published reviews about piezoelectric energy harvesting, and yet most of them are primarily focused on topics including biomedicine [ 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 ], micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) [ 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 ], nanogenerators [ 83 , 84 , 85 ], materials [ 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 ], and variety energy harvesting [ 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 ]. However, this review focuses on the piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters with magnetic coupling.…”