Performance enhancement for a magnetic-coupled bi-stable flutter-based energy harvester

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting a novel magnetic-coupled bi-stable flutter-based energy harvester (MBFEH) for the purpose of enhancing power generation in low speed air flow. The MBFEH comprises of a piezoelectric beam with a magnet on its tip, a hinged rigid flat airfoil, and an external magnet. The magneto-electro-aeroelastic system is theoretically modeled, numerically investigated, and experimentally validated. The influences of the separation distance between the magnets on flutter characteristics and performance of power generation are studied. The numerical and experimental results show that the supercritical flutter will be transformed into the subcritical flutter which realizes a significant reduction of cut-in air speed for energy harvesting. Compared with the conventional flutter-based energy harvester, the cut-in air speed of the MBFEH is reduced by more than 50% when the separation distance is set as 15 mm. The most preferred distance among the tested configurations is 12 mm which broadens the usable air speed by 1.8 m s −1 , and leads to a 102% improvement of the energy harvesting performance throughout the air speed region from 2 m s −1 to 6.6 m s −1 . The study shows that the proposed MBFEH is an effective design approach for enhancing energy harvesting capability in low air speed range.

Study on Wind Energy Harvesting Effect of a Vehicle-Mounted Piezo-Electromagnetic Hybrid Energy Harvester

“…It is numerically demonstrated that the double-plunge energy harvester outperforms its equivalent counterpart using the pitch-plunge configuration in terms of both the average power output and energy harvesting efficiency as the flow velocity exceeds the cut-in speed. Li et al [30,31] designed magnetically coupled nonlinear flutter wind energy harvesters, and the experimental and numerical results confirmed that the nonlinear harvesters have lower cut-in wind speed and higher voltage output under low wind speed.…”

A Curve-Shaped Beam Bistable Piezoelectric Energy Harvester with Variable Potential Well: Modeling and Numerical Simulation

“…Substituting Equations ( 7) and ( 10)- (12) into Equation ( 8), according to Kirchhoff's law, the governing equations of BPEH-V system are obtained:…”

“…Rubes et al [ 9 ] conducted research on magnetically coupled bistable piezoelectric energy harvesters, and their research showed that the introduction of nonlinear stiffness can greatly improve the energy harvesting performance of piezoelectric energy harvesters; Erturk and Inman [ 10 ] experimentally proved that the nonlinearity of magnetic coupling can cause vibration between the bistable high-energy traps, thereby improving the collection performance of the energy harvester; and Stanton et al [ 11 ] established a complete dynamic model for the output voltage and dynamic behavior of the magnetic coupling bistable piezoelectric energy harvester and proved the availability of the bistable harvester. Under the condition of simple harmonic excitation, Li et al [ 12 ] developed a magnetic-coupled bi-stable flutter-based energy harvester and proved that the proposed system was an effective design approach for enhancing energy harvesting capability in a low air speed range. Singh et al [ 13 ] investigated a bistable piezoelectric energy harvester with SSHI circuit, and their experiments proved that the output power of the bistable piezoelectric energy harvester with the SSHI circuit reached 478 μw, while the corresponding linear structure was only 129 μw.…”

Recent progress on flutter‐based wind energy harvesting

“…In recent years, investigations have been focused on the introduction of magnetic nonlinearity in flow-induced vibration. 83 For example, Li et al 36,84 designed a magnetic nonlinear FEH and a magnetic bistable FEH as shown in Figure 11A,B, respectively. Theoretical models were established and verified by wind tunnel experiments.…”