Energy Harvesting Technologies for Structural Health Monitoring of Airplane Components—A Review

Abstract

With the aim of increasing the efficiency of maintenance and fuel usage in airplanes, structural health monitoring (SHM) of critical composite structures is increasingly expected and required. The optimized usage of this concept is subject of intensive work in the framework of the EU COST Action CA18203 “Optimising Design for Inspection” (ODIN). In this context, a thorough review of a broad range of energy harvesting (EH) technologies to be potentially used as power sources for the acoustic emission and guided wave propagation sensors of the considered SHM systems, as well as for the respective data elaboration and wireless communication modules, is provided in this work. EH devices based on the usage of kinetic energy, thermal gradients, solar radiation, airflow, and other viable energy sources, proposed so far in the literature, are thus described with a critical review of the respective specific power levels, of their potential placement on airplanes, as well as the consequently necessary power management architectures. The guidelines provided for the selection of the most appropriate EH and power management technologies create the preconditions to develop a new class of autonomous sensor nodes for the in-process, non-destructive SHM of airplane components.

Ultrasonic Guided-Waves Sensors and Integrated Structural Health Monitoring Systems for Impact Detection and Localization: A Review

“…The energy harvesting for low power WSN with special emphasis on SMH application has been reviewed also by Park et al [ 139 ]. Finally, the outcomes of a recent project dedicated on the energy harvesting methods for SHM systems installed on airplanes have been published by Zelenika et al [ 140 ].…”

Perspectives and Development of Electrical Systems in More Electric Aircraft

“…In this regard, the wireless sensor network (WSN) for SHM is proposed [178,179]. The power levels of these sensors are in the range of 10-50 MW, depending on the data rate [180]. These sensors will harvest energy from the environment.…”

Comparative Study of PVDF Sheets and Their Sensitivity to Mechanical Vibrations: The Role of Dimensions, Molecular Weight, Stretching and Poling

“…It must be stated that usual sensors with proper sensing capabilities applied in the above mentioned applications are mainly based on the ceramics with high density, and therefore weight plays a crucial role here. The utilization of alternative systems with proper vibration sensing capability based on low density materials provides a good alternative [ 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”