Energy Harvesting Piezoelectric Wind Speed Sensor

In this paper, we demonstrate a miniature wind speed sensor consisting of a triangle-shaped bluff body attached to the free end of a cantilever incorporating a commercial PVDF piezoelectric film. In the wind, the bluff body causes regular vibration of the cantilever based on galloping, and the piezoelectric film converts the vibration energy into electrical energy. The vibration frequency of this device has an approximately linear dependence on wind speed, and so can be used to detect wind speed directly with high accuracy. In wind tunnel tests, a wind speed sensor based on this principle could detect the wind speed from 4.45 to 10 m/s, and measured speed was typically within 2% of the value obtained using a Pitot tube.