Piezoelectric energy harvesting from morphing wing motions for micro air vehicles

Wing flapping and morphing can be very beneficial to managing the weight of micro air vehicles through coupling the aerodynamic forces with stability and control. In this letter, harvesting energy from the wing morphing is studied to power cameras, sensors, or communication devices of micro air vehicles and to aid in the management of their power. The aerodynamic loads on flapping wings are simulated using a three-dimensional unsteady vortex lattice method. Active wing shape morphing is considered to enhance the performance of the flapping motion. A gradient-based optimization algorithm is used to pinpoint the optimal kinematics maximizing the propellent efficiency. To benefit from the wing deformation, we place piezoelectric layers near the wing roots. Gauss law is used to estimate the electrical harvested power. We demonstrate that enough power can be generated to operate a camera. Numerical analysis shows the feasibility of exploiting wing morphing to harvest energy and improving the design and performance of micro air vehicles.     

磁力双稳态压电悬臂梁俘能器的非线性振动特性研究

为研究双稳态压电俘能系统的相关特性,首先,建立了外界激励作用下双稳态压电悬臂梁俘能系统的等效数学模型;其次,运用谐波平衡法计算获得了系统的动力响应方程,通过绘制的动力响应曲线发现了系统中幅值与功率的解均存在跳跃现象和多解的不稳定区域;最后,分析比较了不同参数对系统动力响应的影响特性。研究结果为优化双稳态压电悬臂梁俘能器的设计和应用提供了理论依据。     

A review of nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvesting interface circuits in discrete components

Piezoelectric energy harvesting is considered as an ideal power resource for low-power consumption gadgets in vibrational environments. The energy extraction efficiency depends highly on the interface circuit, and should be highly improved to meet the power requirements. The nonlinear interface circuits in discrete components have been extensively explored and developed with the advantages of easy implementation, stable operation, high efficiency, and low cost. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art progress of nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvesting interface circuits in discrete components. First, the working principles and the advantages/disadvantages of four classical interface circuits are described. Then, the improved circuits based on the four typical circuits and other types of circuits are introduced in detail, and the advantages/disadvantages, output power, efficiency, energy consumption, and practicability of these circuits are analyzed. Finally, the future development trends of nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvesting circuits, e.g., self-powered extraction, low-power consumption, and broadband characteristic, are predicted.

     

Incident flow effects on the performance of piezoelectric energy harvesters from galloping vibrations

In this paper, we investigate experimentally the concept of energy harvesting from galloping oscillations with a focus on wake and turbulence effects. The harvester is composed of a unimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam with a square cross-section tip mass. In one case, the harvester is placed in the wake of another galloping harvester with the objective of determining the wake effects on the response of the harvester. In the second case, meshes were placed upstream of the harvester with the objective of investigating the effects of upstream turbulence on the response of the harvester. The results show that both wake effects and upstream turbulence significantly affect the response of the harvester. Depending on the spacing between the two squares and the opening size of the mesh, wake and upstream turbulence can positively enhance the level of the harvested power.     

Dynamic analysis of two-degree-of-freedom airfoil with freeplay and cubic nonlinearities in supersonic flow

The nonlinear aeroelastic response of a two-degree-of-freedom airfoil with freeplay and cubic nonlinearities in supersonic flows is investigated. The second-order piston theory is used to analyze a double-wedge airfoil. Then, the fold bifurcation and the amplitude jump phenomenon are detected by the averaging method and the multi-variable Floquet theory. The analytical results are further verified by numerical simulations. Finally, the influence of the freeplay parameters on the aeroelastic response is analyzed in detail.     

Recent advancement of flow-induced piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting techniques: principles,structures, and nonlinear designs

Energy harvesting induced from flowing fluids (e.g., air and water flows) is a well-known process, which can be regarded as a sustainable and renewable energy source. In addition to traditional high-efficiency devices (e.g., turbines and watermills), the micro-power extracting technologies based on the flow-induced vibration (FIV) effect have sparked great concerns by virtue of their prospective applications as a self-power source for the microelectronic devices in recent years. This article aims to conduct a comprehensive review for the FIV working principle and their potential applications for energy harvesting. First, various classifications of the FIV effect for energy harvesting are briefly introduced, such as vortex-induced vibration (VIV), galloping, flutter, and wake-induced vibration (WIV). Next, the development of FIV energy harvesting techniques is reviewed to discuss the research works in the past three years. The application of hybrid FIV energy harvesting techniques that can enhance the harvesting performance is also presented. Furthermore, the nonlinear designs of FIV-based energy harvesters are reported in this study, e.g., multi-stability and limit-cycle oscillation (LCO) phenomena. Moreover, advanced FIV-based energy harvesting studies for fluid engineering applications are briefly mentioned. Finally, conclusions and future outlook are summarized.

     

等效刚度对非线性压电俘能系统性能影响研究

基于Hamilton原理,考虑几何非线性和梁的不可伸长条件,建立了五层压电双晶片叠合梁俘能器在直接和参数激励作用下的运动微分方程。利用Galerkin法和谐波平衡法获得了俘能器的位移、输出电压和输出功率的解析解。引入随时间变化的扰动,提出了非线性方程解的稳定性条件。为了对压电俘能器的结构-性能关系进行综合分析,研究了被动层的配置形式、被动层与主动层的厚度比和弹性模量对压电俘能系统性能的影响。结果表明,在叠合梁厚度不变的情况下,采用五层的压电双晶片叠合结构,选择合理的被动层与主动层厚度比、被动层弹性模量、被动层厚度比和负载电阻,可以有效提高能量俘获的效率。     

Effects of thermo-magneto-electro nonlinearity characteristics on the stability of functionally graded piezoelectric beam

Due to the increasing interests in using functionally graded piezoelectric materials(FGPMs) in the design of advanced micro-electro-mechanical systems, it is important to understand the stability behaviors of the FGPM beams. In this study, considering the effects of geometrical nonlinearity, temperature, and electricity in the constitutive relations and the effect of the magnetic field on the FGPM beam, the Euler-Bernoulli beam model is adopted, and the nonlinear governing equation of motion is ...     

Enhanced galloping energy harvester with cooperative mode of vibration and collision

The low power and narrow speed range remain bottlenecks that constrain the application of small-scale wind energy harvesting. This paper proposes a simple, low-cost, and reliable method to address these critical issues. A galloping energy harvester with the cooperative mode of vibration and collision (GEH-VC) is presented. A pair of curved boundaries attached with functional materials are introduced, which not only improve the performance of the vibration energy harvesting system, but also convert more mechanical energy into electrical energy during collision. The beam deforms and the piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) generates electricity during the flow-induced vibration. In addition, the beam contacts and separates from the boundaries, and the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) generates electricity during the collision. In order to reduce the influence of the boundaries on the aerodynamic performance and the feasibility of increasing the working area of the TENG, a vertical structure is designed. When the wind speed is high, the curved boundaries maintain a stable amplitude of the vibration system and increase the frequency of the vibration system, thereby avoiding damage to the piezoelectric sheet and improving the electromechanical conversion efficiency, and the TENG works with the PEH to generate electricity. Since the boundaries can protect the PEH at high wind speeds, its stiffness can be designed to be low to start working at low wind speeds. The electromechanical coupling dynamic model is established according to the GEH-VC operating principle and is verified experimentally. The results show that the GEH-VC has a wide range of operating wind speeds, and the average power can be increased by 180% compared with the traditional galloping PEH. The GEH-VC prototype is demonstrated to power a commercial temperature sensor. This study provides a novel perspective on the design of hybrid electromechanical conversion mechanisms, that is, to combine and collaborate based on their respective characteristics.

     

Enhance limit cycle oscillation in a wind flow energy harvester system with fractional order derivatives

Advances in material science and mathematics in conjunction with technological needs have triggered the use of material and electric components with fractional order physical properties. This paper considers the mathematical model of a piezoelectric wind flow energy harvester system for which the capacitance of the piezoelectric material has fractional order current-voltage characteristics. Additionally the mechanical element is assumed to have fractional order damping. The analysis is focused on the effects of order of derivatives on the appearance and characteristics of limit circle oscillations (LCO). It is obtained that, the order of derivatives to enhance the amplitude of LCO and lower the threshold condition leading to LCO. The domains of efficiency of the system are illustrated in various parameters spaces.     

Performance of a flapping foil flow energy harvester in shear flows

Through numerical simulations, we investigate the energy harvesting performance of a heaving/pitching foil in shear flow. With two-dimensional Navier–Stokes simulations, we examined the energy harvesting efficiencies of such a system in linear shear flows and compared the results with those in uniform flows. It is found that in low shear rates, the performance of the system in linear shear flow is slightly higher than that in uniform flow, whereas the energy harvesting efficiency is greatly diminished if the shear rate is sufficiently high (this effect is more pronounced in higher frequencies). This is attributed to the effects of linear shear on the vorticity generation and the synchronization between fluid forcing and foil motion – when a strong shear flow is introduced the lift force induced by the leading edge vortex that is in phase with the heaving motion of the foil is diminished. Furthermore, by studying the instability of the wake behind the foil, we confirm that the optimal performance of the foil in linear shear flows is associated with the same physical mechanism that controls the performance of the foil in uniform flows, i.e. the excitation of the most unstable modes in the wake when the oscillation frequency of the foil is close to the frequencies of these modes.     

Stochastic averaging of energy harvesting systems

A stochastic averaging method is proposed for nonlinear energy harvesters subjected to external white Gaussian noise and parametric excitations. The Fokker–Planck–Kolmogorov equation of the coupled electromechanical system of energy harvesting is a three variables nonlinear parabolic partial differential equation whose exact stationary solutions are generally hard to find. In order to overcome difficulties in solving higher dimensional nonlinear partial differential equations, a transformation scheme is applied to decouple the electromechanical equations. The averaged Itô equations are derived via the standard stochastic averaging method, then the FPK equations of the decoupled system are obtained. The exact stationary solution of the averaged FPK equation is used to determine the probability densities of the displacement, the velocity, the amplitude, the joint probability densities of the displacement and velocity, and the power of the stationary response. The effects of the system parameters on the output power are examined. The approximate analytical outcomes are qualitatively and quantitatively supported by the Monte Carlo simulations.     

Analytical and finite-element study of optimal strain distribution in various beam shapes for energy harvesting applications

Owing to the increasing demand for harvesting energy from environmental vibration for use in self-powered electronic applications, cantilever-based vibration energy harvesting has attracted considerable interest from various parties and has become one of the most common approaches to converting redundant mechanical energy into electrical energy. As the output voltage produced from a piezoelec-tric material depends largely on the geometric shape and the size of the beam, there is a need to model and compare the performance of cantilever beams of differing geometries. This paper presents the study of strain distribution in various shapes of cantilever beams, including a convex and concave edge profile elliptical beam that have not yet been discussed in any prior literature. Both analytical and finite-element models are derived and the resultant strain distributions in the beam are computed based on a MATLAB solver and ANSYS finite-element analysis tools. An optimum geome-try for a vibration-based energy harvesting system is verified. Finally, experimental results comparing the power density for triangular and rectangular piezoelectric beams are also pre-sented to validate the findings of the study, and the claim, as suggested in the literature, is verified.     

一种具有新型动力放大器压电悬臂梁俘能器计算模型和解析解

为了提高压电振动能量俘获的效率,提出了一种新型的压电悬臂梁俘能器。新的压电俘能器在悬臂梁固定端安装一个新型动力放大器系统,另一端带有一个有限尺寸的质量块。新型动力放大器由平移及转动约束的弹簧-质量块系统组成。考虑有限尺寸质量块的质量分布效应和平移及转动约束的弹簧刚度等结构参数的影响,利用广义Hamilton原理,针对带有新型动力放大器的压电式悬臂梁俘能器,建立了分布参数型运动微分方程,获得了相应的特征函数,分析了自振频率和能量俘获效果。分析结果表明,考虑质量块偏心距和转动惯量可提高能量俘获效率的预测精度;合理选择动力放大器的平移及转动弹簧刚度可提高能量俘获的效率,降低俘能器的共振频率。     

考虑几何与压电非线性行为压电层合轴对称圆板的精确解

研究可移简支及夹支边界条件下,轴对称压电层合圆板在强电场和机械荷载联合作用下的非线性变形.考虑电致伸缩的非线性压电效应及几何非线性的影响,导出轴对称压电层合圆板的控制方程.通过调整坐标轴的位置对控制方程进行简化,得到关于挠度和径向力的4阶非线性控制方程.再通过简单的积分并引入无量刚变量将控制方程等价地化为2阶非线性耦合微分方程组.利用幂级数法得到可移简支及夹支边界条件下强电场和均布荷载共同作用时的挠度、径向力及径向位移的幂级数精确解.通过对双、单压电晶片执行器的数值计算及分析,得到电场、外载对于位移、径向力的影响关系.     

On the efficiency of energy harvesting using vortex-induced vibrations of cables

Many technologies based on fluid–structure interaction mechanisms are being developed to harvest energy from geophysical flows. The velocity of such flows is low, and so is their energy density. Large systems are therefore required to extract a significant amount of energy. The question of the efficiency of energy harvesting using vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) of cables is addressed in this paper, through two reference configurations: (i) a long tensioned cable with periodically-distributed harvesters and (ii) a hanging cable with a single harvester at its upper extremity. After validation against either direct numerical simulations or experiments, an appropriate reduced-order wake-oscillator model is used to perform parametric studies of the impact of the harvesting parameters on the efficiency. For both configurations, an optimal set of parameters is identified and it is shown that the maximum efficiency is close to the value reached with an elastically-mounted rigid cylinder. The variability of the efficiency is studied in light of the fundamental properties of each configuration, i.e. body flexibility and gravity-induced spatial variation of the tension. In the periodically-distributed harvester configuration, it is found that the standing-wave nature of the vibration and structural mode selection plays a central role in energy extraction. In contrast, the efficiency of the hanging cable is essentially driven by the occurrence of traveling wave vibrations.     

非线性压电效应下压电层合板的弯曲

考虑非线性压电效应,即电致弹性和电致伸缩效应情况下压电层合板的弯曲。从非线性压电方程和几何方程导出了压电层合板合应力、合力矩与应变之间的广义本构关系,这些关系关于电场是非线性的。利用Ritz法和双傅立叶级数得到四边简支对称压电层合板在高电场作用下的非线性解并进行计算。结果表明,只考虑线性压电效应只能适应于作用电场较低或基础层的刚度比压电层的刚度要大得多的情况。     

参数和直接激励下非线性压电俘能器性能分析的多尺度法

考虑几何非线性、阻尼非线性和梁的轴向不可伸长条件,利用Hamilton变分原理,建立了参数激励和直接激励下压电俘能器的非线性力电耦合的运动微分方程;利用Galerkin法,将所建立的动力学偏微分方程降阶为力电耦合的Mathieu-Duffing型方程;采用多尺度法获得了梁的位移和输出电压的解析表达式,给出了解的稳定性条件;利用解析表达式研究了单独参数激励以及参数激励和直接激励共同作用下阻尼系数对压电俘能器性能的影响。结果表明,在参数激励情况下,线性阻尼会显著影响超临界分岔点的位置,非线性二次阻尼不会影响超临界分岔点的位置。参数激励和直接激励的结合可以作为提升压电能量俘获器性能的解决方案。     

逆压电效应对双稳态压电俘能器的性能影响研究

为了研究逆压电效应对压电俘能效果的具体影响,本文首先分析了双稳态压电俘能器的分布参数型能量表达式,然后应用广义Hamilton变分原理推导了该俘能系统的动力学方程,最后采用谐波平衡法获得了动力响应解析解。通过对比不同激励频率下的数值仿真结果,讨论了逆压电效应对俘能系统动力响应的影响规律。结果表明,逆压电效应在不同工况下对俘能效果的影响并非单纯起抑制作用,在一定激励强度的高频激励下,逆压电效应对俘能效果的影响起增强作用;弱强度激励下的俘能效果则全程受到抑制作用。