Aero-elastic Energy Harvesting Device: Design and Analysis

Date

2015-10-02

Authors

Pirquet, Oliver Johann

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Abstract

An energy harvesting device driven by aeroelastic vibration with self-sustained pitching and heaving using an induction based power take off mechanism has been designed and tested for performance under various operating conditions. From the data collected the results show that the device achieved a maximum power output of 48.3 mW and a maximum efficiency of 2.26% at a dimensionless frequency of 0.143. For all airfoils tested the device was shown to be self-starting above 3 m/s. A qualitative description relating to the performance of the device considering dynamic stall and the flow conditions at optimal dimensionless frequency has been proposed and related to previous work. Performance for angles off the wind up to 22 degrees and was observed to have no reduction in power output due to the change in angle to the wind. The device has shown evidence of having a self-governing capability, tending to decrease its power output for heavy windpspeeds, a thorough examination of this capability is recommended for future work.

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Keywords

energy harvesting, wind energy, power, renewable energy, green energy, flutter, aero elastic, aeroelastic, vibration, small scale

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