VIVACE (Vortex Induced Vibration Aquatic Clean Energy): A New Concept in Generation of Clean and Renewable Energy From Fluid Flow

Abstract

Any device aiming to harness the abundant clean and renewable energy from ocean and other water resources in the USA must have high energy density, be unobtrusive, have low maintenance, be robust, meet life cycle cost targets, and have a 10–20 year life. The VIVACE (Vortex Induced Vibration Aquatic Clean Energy) Converter — invented by Bernitsas & Raghavan and patented through the University of Michigan — satisfies those criteria. It converts ocean/river current kinetic energy to electricity using VIV successfully and efficiently for the first time. VIVACE is based on the simple idea of maximizing rather than spoiling vortex shedding and exploiting rather than suppressing VIV. It introduces optimal damping for energy conversion while maintaining VIV over a broad range of vortex shedding synchronization. VIV occurs over very broad ranges of Reynolds (Re) number. Only two transition regions suppress VIV. Thus, even from currents as slow as 0.25m/sec, VIVACE can extract energy with high efficiency making ocean/river current energy a more accessible and economically viable resource. In this paper, the underlying concepts of the VIVACE Converter are discussed. The designs of the physical model and lab prototype are presented. A mathematical model is developed and design particulars for a wide range of application scales are calculated. Experimental measurements on the lab prototype are reported in the sequel paper and used here for preliminary benchmarking.

Vibration Energy Harvesting: Machinery Vibration, Human Movement and Flow Induced Vibration

“…Both piezoelectric and electromagnetic transducers were used. (Bernitsas, 2006). The principle of this energy harvester is slightly different from that of the ones mentioned above.…”

Layout Optimization Design of Two Vortex Induced Piezoelectric Energy Converters (VIPECs) Using the Combined Kriging Surrogate Model and Particle Swarm Optimization Method

“…Since the VIPEC was scheduled to work in an underwater environment, its governing equation was the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation, and its voltage performance was evaluated with Equation (1). Periodical vortex shedding occurred at the back of the cylinder and detached from either side of it due to the flow separation around the cylinder.…”

“…Meanwhile, new energy technologies have been proposed to make renewable energy systems more efficient. The use of Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV), which can convert fluid kinematic energy into electric power through the vibration of a vibrator, was first introduced in 2008 by Bernitsas et al [1,2], and different kinds of vibrators and conversion systems were developed in subsequent work [3][4][5]. By combining VIV and piezoelectric material, the Vortex Induced Piezoelectric Energy Converter (VIPEC) was proposed [6,7], which comprises a leading cylinder bluff body, a pivoted plate, several piezoelectric patches, and a storage circuit.…”

Optimal electromagnetic energy extraction from transverse galloping

“…In recent years, Flow-Induced Vibrations like Vortex-induced Vibrations (VIV), Transverse Galloping (TG) oscillations or Flutter have been considered as a new mean to harvest energy from fluid flows (Bernitsas et al, 2008;Barrero-Gil et al, 2010Sanchez-Sanz et al, 2009;Grouthier et al, 2013;Abdelkefi et al, 2013;Doare and Michelin, 2011;Allen and Smits, 2001, to name only a few). The basic idea is to take advantage of these phenomena to convert part of the kinetic energy of the flow into oscillatory mechanical energy of the elastic body; thereafter, the mechanical energy of the body may be converted into electrical energy by electromagnetic, piezoelectric, or electrostatic means.…”