Hydroelectromechanical modelling of a piezoelectric wave energy converter

Abstract

We investigate the hydroelectromechanical-coupled dynamics of a piezoelectric wave energy converter. The converter is made of a flexible bimorph plate, clamped at its ends and forced to motion by incident ocean surface waves. The piezoceramic layers are connected in series and transform the elastic motion of the plate into useful electricity by means of the piezoelectric effect. By using a distributed-parameter analytical approach, we couple the linear piezoelectric constitutive equations for the plate with the potential-flow equations for the surface water waves. The resulting system of governing partial differential equations yields a new hydroelectromechanical dispersion relation, whose complex roots are determined with a numerical approach. The effect of the piezoelectric coupling in the hydroelastic domain generates a system of short- and long-crested weakly damped progressive waves travelling along the plate. We show that the short-crested flexural wave component gives a dominant contribution to the generated power. We determine the hydroelectromechanical resonant periods of the device, at which the power output is significant.

Energy Extraction of Pontoon-Type Wave Energy Converter

“…It is to be noted that the articulated plate anti-motion device is also modelled as a solid plate subjected to the same governing equations (8) to (10) and boundary conditions (11) to (13).…”

“…Several deformable WECs have been proposed recently, such as a piezoelectric WEC [9] and a rubber tube WEC [10], and researchers have developed the numerical and mathematical models to assess their performance. Renzi [11] developed a mathematical model of a submerged elastic plate with damping, in order to understand the hydroelectromechanical-coupled dynamics of a piezoelectric WEC. Babarit et al [12] performed a numerical investigation on a tube WEC made of electroactive polymers.…”

Progress in Piezoelectric Material Based Oceanic Wave Energy Conversion Technology

“…Soundpower company has designed and commercialized an electric power generator with a vibration motion producer [45]. The piezoelectric material based WECs require comparatively lower maintenance cost and offers versatile applications [46]. Well-designed piezoelectric WECs incorporate the piezoelectric floats [18] and cantilevered beams [19], [35].…”

Method for controlling vibration by exploiting piecewise-linear nonlinearity in energy harvesters

“…Vibration energy harvesting can be realized using piezoelectric [6][7][8], electromagnetic [9][10][11] or electrostatic [12] approaches. Early designs of these power generators were based on linear models [13][14][15][16][17] that provide the maximum power generation efficiency at resonance with their efficiency decreasing dramatically even when the excitation frequency shifts slightly.…”