SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF AN ENERGY HARVESTER UTILIZING FLOW-INDUCED VIBRATION

This work exploits harvesting energy from fluid flow by means of a device that is inserted in the flow stream. The device is designed to exhibit desirable hydrodynamic characteristics that advocate flow-induced oscillations, which can be converted into useful power. In this context, a cantilever beam carrying an open semicircular cylinder at its tip is placed in a flowing water stream. The hydrodynamic loads cause the beam to undergo galloping motions in the transverse direction. The beam, which is made up of laminated polymer/polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) layers, extracts electrical energy from the sustained cyclic mechanical motion. A numerical model is developed to predict the system dynamics in terms of its design parameters. The results are supported by experimental measurements of the output voltage over a range of water speeds and load resistance.