• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.67-90
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• 2017

The interdisciplinary research area of small scale energy harvesting has attracted tremendous interests in the past decades, with a goal of ultimately realizing self-powered electronic systems. Among the various available ambient energy sources which can be converted into electricity, wind energy is a most promising and ubiquitous source in both outdoor and indoor environments. Significant research outcomes have been produced on small scale wind energy harvesting in the literature, mostly based on piezoelectric conversion. Especially, modeling methods of wind energy harvesting techniques plays a greatly important role in accurate performance evaluations as well as efficient parameter optimizations. The purpose of this paper is to present a guideline on the modeling methods of small-scale wind energy harvesters. The mechanisms and characteristics of different types of aeroelastic instabilities are presented first, including the vortex-induced vibration, galloping, flutter, wake galloping and turbulence-induced vibration. Next, the modeling methods are reviewed in detail, which are classified into three categories: the mathematical modeling method, the equivalent circuit modeling method, and the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. This paper aims to provide useful guidance to researchers from various disciplines when they want to develop and model a multi-way coupled wind piezoelectric energy harvester.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.90-98
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• 2021

Piezoelectric ceramic fiber composite (PCFC) was fabricated using a planar electrode printed piezoelectric ceramic fiber driven in transverse mode for small-scale wind energy harvester applications. The PCFC consisted of an epoxy matrix material and piezoelectric ceramic fibers sandwiched by interdigitated electrode (IDE) patterned polyimide films. The PCFC showed an excellent mechanical performance under a continuous stress. For the fabrication of PCB cantilever harvester, five -PCFCs were vertically attached onto a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) substrate, and then PCFCs were serially connected through a printed Cu circuit. The energy harvesting performance was evaluated applying an inverted structure, which imples its free leading edge located at an open end but the trailing edge at a clamped end, to enhance strain energy in a wind tunnel. The output voltage of the PCB cantilever harvester was increased as the wind speed increased. The maximum output power was 17.2 ㎼ at a resistance load of 200 ㏀ and wind speed of 9 m/s. It is considered that the PCB cantilever energy harvester reveals a potential use for wind energy harvester applications.