Influence of Wake Interference Variation on the Output Performance in Wake Galloping Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

Abstract

The structural parameters of the wake-induced vibration piezoelectric energy harvester directly determined the output performance of the device. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) method was adopted to investigate the effects of wake interference caused by varying the diameter ratio and spacing ratio of the harvester on the vibration response and output performance of the wake galloping piezoelectric energy harvester (WG-PEH). The accuracy of the mathematical model was verified through wind tunnel tests. The results showed that the WG-PEH exhibited the optimal output performance when the diameter ratio e = 1.5 and the spacing ratio s = 4.5. The maximum root mean square (RMS) voltage reached 8.15 V, and the maximum output power achieved 44.28 µW. Finally, the mathematical model was used to predict the optimal load of the WG-PEH. The results indicated that the optimal load resistance was 1.5 MΩ at low wind speeds, and was 1.25 MΩ at high wind speeds.

Keywords

Wake galloping / Piezoelectric energy harvesting / Mathematical model / Fluid-structure interaction / Output performance

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