Structural Failure Detection Using Wireless Transmission Rate From Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

Abstract

This paper presents a new self-powered wireless failure detection method that uses different signal transmission rates from piezoelectric energy harvesters. Reliable signal transmission from a wireless sensor network has been challenging due to the power supply issue, often covered by batteries that need regular replacement. Piezoelectric energy harvesting is an excellent option to power the sensors in a vibrational environment, but the power level is limited by input vibrational energy. In this paper, we introduce a new failure detection strategy that uses multifunctional piezoelectric material for vibration sensing and energy harvesting. That is, when the vibration is stronger and the material strain is higher, piezoelectric material produces higher voltage and power. Different power level from multiple piezoelectric sensors is used for sensing structural failure. We design a simple power management circuit that saves power proportional to the piezoelectric voltage so that the piezoelectric patch with higher strain can transmit more frequent wireless signals (higher transmission rate). To store the piezoelectric power, the circuit is composed of a full-bridge rectifier, a Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) switch, a comparator with hysteresis, and a wireless transmitter (Zigbee). The failure detection performance is investigated in a case study that monitors screw joint failure in a vibrating plate. Reliabilitybased design optimization is conducted to determine the piezoelectric sensor network in terms of the number and sizes of multiple piezoelectric (PZT) patches. The test results show that the proposed system successfully powers the wireless transmitter using the ultra-low scale of power from the PZT sensors (microwatt) and detect the different combination of screw joint failure in the vibrating plate.

Theoretical Analysis of the Power Performance of a Monostable Galloping-Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

“…The power supply of these wireless sensors in IoT is a big challenge. Energy harvesting from the ambient environment has been a promising way to provide a continuous power supply for these small devices [1][2][3][4][5]. Wind energy is one of the most stable, environmentally friendly, and sustainable energy sources.…”

On the positive and negative damping effect of piezoelectric structure using switched-mode bidirectional energy conversion circuit

“…The multi-functional concept was observed in some recently proposed designs. Some studies combined either two of the actuation [5,6], energy harvesting (EH) [4,[7][8][9], and sensing [10] functions for realizing the compact and integrated piezoelectric solutions, e.g. self-sensing actuation designs [11,12], optimized actuation by nonlinear circuit design [13], and time-sharing vibration excitation (VE) and EH design [14].…”

Model Study on the Combination of Operating Parameters of Corn Kernel Harvesters

“…The corn planting area is increasing year by year, and the demand for corn kernel harvesters is also growing, while the harvesters are required to have better operating quality and operating efficiency [7][8][9][10]. The leading indicators for evaluating the operating quality of crop harvesters are the impurity rate, the crushing rate, and the crop kernel loss rate; one of the indicators for assessing the operational efficiency of crop harvesters is the blockage failure rate [11][12][13][14]. These evaluation indicators also could be applied to corn kernel harvesters.…”