Experimental study of a flag-flutter energy harvester

In the present era, the possibility to generate electrical energy from an operational environment is a critical factor for an aerospace industry, particularly to drive microelectronic components. In this research, a solution for energy harvesting mechanism based on fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is investigated via experimental campaign. The possibility to harvest energy from Limit Cycle Oscillations (LCOs) by means of piezoelectric transduction is investigated experimentally. A typical condition for energy harvesting, which requires a strong interaction between the external energy and the components where the harvester is embedded. Moreover, the flutter instability of a cantilevered flag with piezoelectric and aluminium patches, subjected to an axial flow has been experimentally studied. The practical interest of this instability mechanism, which can lead to self-sustained oscillations, is the possible application inflow energy harvesting. The presented model is suitable to harvest energy and to drive wireless sensors. The maximum power output obtained by the designed piezoelectric aeroelastic energy harvester (PAEH) is found to be 1.12 mW for 66.6KΩ of resistance.