Solar Panels as Tip Masses in Low Frequency Vibration Harvesters
Tip masses are used in cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvesters to shift device resonance towards the required frequency for harvesting and to improve the electric power generation. Tip masses are typically in the form of concentrated passive weights. The aim of this study is to assess the inclu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/20/3815 |
| _version_ | 1811187579324727296 |
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| author | Jie Wang Mostafa R. A. Nabawy Andrea Cioncolini Alistair Revell |
| author_facet | Jie Wang Mostafa R. A. Nabawy Andrea Cioncolini Alistair Revell |
| author_sort | Jie Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Tip masses are used in cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvesters to shift device resonance towards the required frequency for harvesting and to improve the electric power generation. Tip masses are typically in the form of concentrated passive weights. The aim of this study is to assess the inclusion of solar panels as active tip masses on the dynamics and power generation performance of cantilevered PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride)-based vibration energy harvesters. Four different harvester geometries with and without solar panels are realized using off-the-shelf components. Our experimental results show that the flexible solar panels considered in this study are capable of reducing resonance frequency by up to 14% and increasing the PVDF power generated by up to 54%. Two analytical models are developed to investigate this concept; employing both an equivalent concentrated tip mass to represent the case of flexible solar panels and a distributed tip mass to represent rigid panels. Good prediction agreement with experimental results is achieved with an average error in peak power of less than 5% for the cases considered. The models are also used to identify optimum tip mass configurations. For the flexible solar panel model, it is found that the highest PVDF power output is produced when the length of solar panels is two thirds of the total length. On the other hand, results from the rigid solar panel model show that the optimum length of solar panels increases with the relative tip mass ratio, approaching an asymptotic value of half of the total length as the relative tip mass ratio increases significantly. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:04:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-619e348c4b2346518d96549f332181d8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:04:49Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-619e348c4b2346518d96549f332181d82022-12-22T04:19:55ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732019-10-011220381510.3390/en12203815en12203815Solar Panels as Tip Masses in Low Frequency Vibration HarvestersJie Wang0Mostafa R. A. Nabawy1Andrea Cioncolini2Alistair Revell3Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, UKDepartment of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, UKDepartment of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, UKDepartment of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, UKTip masses are used in cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvesters to shift device resonance towards the required frequency for harvesting and to improve the electric power generation. Tip masses are typically in the form of concentrated passive weights. The aim of this study is to assess the inclusion of solar panels as active tip masses on the dynamics and power generation performance of cantilevered PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride)-based vibration energy harvesters. Four different harvester geometries with and without solar panels are realized using off-the-shelf components. Our experimental results show that the flexible solar panels considered in this study are capable of reducing resonance frequency by up to 14% and increasing the PVDF power generated by up to 54%. Two analytical models are developed to investigate this concept; employing both an equivalent concentrated tip mass to represent the case of flexible solar panels and a distributed tip mass to represent rigid panels. Good prediction agreement with experimental results is achieved with an average error in peak power of less than 5% for the cases considered. The models are also used to identify optimum tip mass configurations. For the flexible solar panel model, it is found that the highest PVDF power output is produced when the length of solar panels is two thirds of the total length. On the other hand, results from the rigid solar panel model show that the optimum length of solar panels increases with the relative tip mass ratio, approaching an asymptotic value of half of the total length as the relative tip mass ratio increases significantly.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/20/3815vibration energy harvestertip masspvdfsolar panelslow frequencydynamic responseoutput power |
| spellingShingle | Jie Wang Mostafa R. A. Nabawy Andrea Cioncolini Alistair Revell Solar Panels as Tip Masses in Low Frequency Vibration Harvesters Energies vibration energy harvester tip mass pvdf solar panels low frequency dynamic response output power |
| title | Solar Panels as Tip Masses in Low Frequency Vibration Harvesters |
| title_full | Solar Panels as Tip Masses in Low Frequency Vibration Harvesters |
| title_fullStr | Solar Panels as Tip Masses in Low Frequency Vibration Harvesters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Solar Panels as Tip Masses in Low Frequency Vibration Harvesters |
| title_short | Solar Panels as Tip Masses in Low Frequency Vibration Harvesters |
| title_sort | solar panels as tip masses in low frequency vibration harvesters |
| topic | vibration energy harvester tip mass pvdf solar panels low frequency dynamic response output power |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/20/3815 |
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