Performance investigation of piezoaeroelastic energy harvester with trailing-edge flap

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. 2022-02, Vol.334, p.113345, Article 113345
• Main Authors: Tian, Haigang, Shan, Xiaobiao, Zhang, Jubin, Sui, Guangdong, Xie, Tao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aeroelastic vibration; Aeroelasticity; Airfoil-flap section; Amplitudes; Damping; Electric potential; Energy harvesting; Flutter; Harvesting performance; Heat transfer; Microelectromechanical systems; Piezoaeroelastic harvester; Plunge-pitch-flap motions; Sensors; Stiffness coefficients; Torsion springs; Trailing edge flaps; Vibration; Vibration analysis; Vibration mode; Voltage; Vortex-induced vibrations
• ISSN: 0924-4247; 1873-3069
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sna.2021.113345

•This paper proposes a piezoaeroelastic harvester with trailing-edge flap.•The mathematical model of plunge-pitch-flap motions is derived.•The numerical results are in well agreement with experimental values.•The capacitor charged for 90 s can power Pedometer for 139 s [Display omitted] This paper presents a piezoaeroelastic energy harvester fitted with trailing-edge flap, for simulating three degrees of freedom plunge-pitch-flap motions and capturing the aeroelastic vibration energy. The flap is fitted with the trailing-edge of the airfoil, and restricted by the torsion spring rod. The governing equations of fluid-structure-electric coupled fields are derived. The influence of the harvester parameters on the output characteristic is investigated numerically. Experimental prototype of the harvester is fabricated, and the numerical results are validated by the experimental method. The results demonstrate that the lesser the pitch stiffness coefficient is and the larger the plunge and flap stiffness coefficients are, the larger aeroelastic vibration and the better harvesting performance can be obtained. The vibration mode changes from flutter-induced vibration to vortex-induced vibration at the smaller flap damping coefficient. The plunge amplitude of 0.057 m and output voltage of 32.18 V are harvested at 18 m/s. The output power can be up to 2.63 mW at 300 kΩ. The plunge amplitude and output voltage obtained numerically are in well agreement with the experimental values. The designed piezoaeroelastic harvester can drive the lower-power microelectromechanical system, which can promote the field application in microelectromechanical systems.