Nonlinear analysis of piezoelectric wind energy harvesters with different geometrical shapes

Piezoelectric wind energy harvesters consisting a bluff body and a piezoelectric cantilever beam have great potential for powering small-sized wireless devices. To achieve a higher energy output, the beam is designed for large deformation. This results in the nonlinear nature of the energy harvesters. In this paper, a nonlinear model of a piezoelectric wind harvester with different geometrical parameters is developed. A comparison of the energy harvesting performance of these energy harvesters with different geometrical parameters is provided. Results show that the onset speeds of galloping for trapezoidal and exponential piezoelectric energy harvesters are significantly lower than those of rectangular beam. The average power output density of the beam with exponential shape is larger than trapezoidal and rectangular beams. Therefore, designing a beam with exponentially varying shape can obtain the largest power density and therefore can reduce the cost of piezoelectric wind energy harvester.