Hybrid numerical-experimental study of an offshore piezoelectric energy harvesting from water waves

Document Type : Article

Authors

Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran

10.24200/sci.2024.61609.7404

Abstract

A novel cantilever piezoelectric energy harvester with a modified structure of tilting beam has been designed to harness energy from water waves. New suggestions are presented for analysis of the interaction of the nonlinear waves with the beam surface using a hybrid theoretical/experimental approach. The experimental tests are conducted to investigate the effect of different design parameters such as the longitudinal distance of the cantilever beam from the wave-maker, the shape of the oar-like tip of the beam, the angle of spatial orientation, the strength of the waves, the material of piezo-harvester, and the depth of the beam below the free-surface on the output voltage. Numerical simulations are conducted based on the beam deformation captured by a high-speed camera. It is found that adding the torsional moment led to the generation of about 13\% and 50\% higher rms and peak-to-peak voltages in comparison to the pure-bending case, respectively. It is seen that by increasing the indentation from 3 cm to 6 cm, about an 18\% increase can be captured in produced voltage. These results can be used to train a model for a control system to keep the optimum angle between the water waves and the beam.

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