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arXiv · 1512.05532

Resonance-induced enhancement of the energy harvesting performance of piezoelectric flags

Yifan Xia·Sebastien Michelin·Olivier Doare
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Abstract

The spontaneous flapping of a flag can be used to produce electrical energy from a fluid flow when coupled to a generator. In this paper, the energy harvesting performance of a flag covered by a single pair of PVDF piezoelectric electrodes is studied both experimentally and numerically. The electrodes are connected to a resistive-inductive circuit that forms a resonant circuit with the piezoelectric's intrinsic capacitance. Compared with purely resistive circuits, the resonance between the circuit and the flag's flapping motion leads to a significant increase in the harvested energy. Our experimental study also validates our fluid-solid-electric nonlinear numerical model.

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Yifan Xia, Sebastien Michelin, Olivier Doare. 2015-12-17. Resonance-induced enhancement of the energy harvesting performance of piezoelectric flags. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4939117

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