Modeling and design of a nonlinear aeroelastic energy harvester

In present era the demand of low power electronic instruments has been increasing and their energy consumption is decreasing. With this increasing demand of low power electronics systems, the researchers focus on piezoelectric energy harvesting, which is a process of converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. A typical condition for energy harvesting, which require a strong interaction between the external energy and the components where the harvester is embedded, is the Limit Cycle phenomenon arising after the utter speed in nonlinear aeroelastic systems. In the present work, the possibility to extract energy by means of piezoelectric transduction from a post-critical aeroelastic behavior, as the Limit Cycle, is investigated. Moreover, a suitable designed aeroelastic harvester based on the use of piezoelectric components is presented. Finally, a design study on the main parameters characterizing the presented harvester is performed in order to assess the better operational conditions and to work as basis of future experimental developments.