Design and Characterization of Wind Energy Harvesting From a Trajectory-Controllable Piezoelectric Vibrator

Wind energy has been considered to be a promising solution for providing reliable power for sensors and transducers in smart structures. To improve the reliability of turbine-based piezoelectric wind energy harvesters, a novel piezoelectric wind turbine generator with a trajectory-controllable piezoelectric vibrator is presented in this paper. The vibrator is used to control the deformation trajectory of the piezoelectric plate, tune the wind speed bandwidth of the generator and improve its reliability. The generator model is simplified and simulated as well as the prototype is fabricated and tested. Both theoretical simulations and experimental results show that the trajectory-controllable piezoelectric vibrator can effectively limit the vibrator amplitude and regulate output voltage. Also, the lift and angle of the cam of the trajectory-controllable piezoelectric vibrator brought a significant influence on the deformation of the piezoelectric vibrator. Furthermore, the wind speed bandwidth of piezoelectric wind turbine generator could be broadened through adjusting the structural parameters, such as the exciting distance of magnets, the number ratio of exciting magnets and the stiffness ratio of two springs. Moreover, it was found that there was an optimal parameter value to maximize the wind speed bandwidth.