Piezoelectric wind energy harvesting device based on the inverted cantilever beam with leaf-inspired extensions

Abstract

Inspired by the fluttering of leaves in wind, we propose a novel type of wind energy harvesting device composed of a piezoelectric bimorph beam and flexible extensions. Working principle and advantages of the proposed design are discussed with numerical simulations conducted to investigate the influence of extension shape upon the device performance. Fabricated prototypes are tested in a simple experiment setup to give a description of the actual device performance. Results show that the leaf-inspired sector-shaped flexible extension corresponds to a better device performance. The test for the dual attachment case of the flexible extensions shows unexpected results, showing that the interaction and collision between the two flexible extensions are to be further explored and optimized.