Design of Aeroelastic Wind Belt for Low-Energy Wind Harvesting

Abstract

Malaysia plans to increase the total renewable energy mix to 30% by the year 2030 as part of the Green Technology Master Plan. Currently, the role of wind power is not included in the renewable energy mix of Malaysia and diversification of the renewable energy mix needs to be encouraged to include policy support for other sources of energy. The wind speed Malaysia is ranged from 3-7 m/s and most wind turbine requires 5 m/s as cut in speed. The low average wind speeds causes wind turbine to be the least cost-effective method to generate electricity at Malaysia especially at the west coast. Therefore, low-energy wind harvesting device is proposed as alternative at this climate. This device is also intended to generate power from vehicle-induced wind. Three potential configurations (electromagnetic, piezoelectric or electrostatic) for small-scale energy harvesting device were proposed by previous researchers and studied in this work. Electromagnetic configuration of energy harvesting by fluttering was selected after analysis of three configurations. A wind belt was designed to withstand environmental conditions such as fresh water (rain), UV radiation and acid/alkali conditions. Several important parameters such as belt width, location of the magnet etc for the design were evaluated experimentally. Taffeta silk was selected as the belt materials from potential materials. The optimum length and width of the belt in this study are 1 m and 12 mm. Neodymium N45 magnet was selected based on inductance and the optimum magnet position along the belt is 20cm from the edges of the main frame. Experimental results showed the peak power recorded in parallel connection are 81.02 mW @ 6 m/s with a belt tension of 0.816 N and 24.54 mW @ 4 m/s with belt tension of 0.612 N.

The Potential of Flutter-Based Windbelt for Energy Generation in Low-Wind-Speed Regions: A Case Study in Malaysia

“…This is because the centre of the ribbon has the highest amplitude of movement compared to the sides, resulting in more frequent intersections of the magnetic flux and higher voltage generation. This result is consistent with those of the previous studies by Quy et al, [3], Lu et al, [13] and Vinayan et al, [17].…”

“…The optimal exposure length of the piezoelectric transducer was 75%. Vinayan et al, [5], on the other hand, investigated the quantification of an aeroelastic windbelt using an electromagnetic array and found that taffeta silk outperformed all other materials. The optimal length and width of the belt were 1 m and 12 mm, respectively, and the best position for the magnet was 20 cm from the edges of the main frame.…”

“…However, the country faces the major challenge of low wind speed, which makes conventional wind turbines unsuitable for electricity generation. Over 90% of total wind hours in Malaysia have an average wind speed of less than 4.1 m/s, which is insufficient for electricity generation [17]. The mountainous terrain and hills in Malaysia also contribute to low wind speeds, thereby reducing the potential for wind energy.…”

“…Another important consideration is the availability of a wind source with a sufficient cut-in speed [3,4]. Malaysia is in equatorial wind doldrums with the average wind speed less than 4.1 m/s during more than 90% of the total wind hours [5]. As a result, harvesting wind energy with conventional wind turbines is impractical in Malaysia since they are not ideal for low wind speeds.…”

Design and performance evaluation of vertical axis wind turbine for wind energy harvesting at railway

“…The known converter utilized electromagnetic, piezoelectric and electrostatic methods. Comparison of strength and weakness among the converters was conducted on a seven-factor basis and electromagnetic method was chosen for further design (Vinayan et al, 2019). An effect known as aeroelastic flutter utilizes the wind energy by capturing its kinetic energy causing vibration to its elastic structure when in the direction of wind flow (Arroyo et al, 2014).…”