Small wind energy harvesting using piezoelectric material

Structural health of buildings and infrastructures is an important aspect in building and construction, and large attention needs to be placed on it. This is because failing to detect any possible changes in physical state of a structural building could lead to a catastrophic outcome. The information of structural health of the building could be obtained from an array of wireless sensors that are placed in civil structures. Batteries have been used to power these wireless sensors. However, the use of batteries is found to have several limitations, such as limited power density and constant need for periodic replacement. Thus, many researchers have been looking for a sustainable solution to replace batteries as a power source. Small wind energy harvesting is a viable solution. Small wind is readily available in civil structures and it is also pollution-free, making it a suitable choice for energy harvesting. Piezoelectric-conversion mechanism converts strain energy to electrical energy when piezoelectric material experienced strain. This mechanism is chosen as it is found to have one of the highest conversion power densities as compared to the other mechanisms. This final year project looks into exploring different techniques to devise promising energy harvesters that are able to harvest sufficient power for the wireless sensors placed in ventilation and air-conditioning ducts. The performances of these harvesters will also be investigated. A 2-degree of freedom (DOF) galloping harvester using magnetic interaction has been proposed and its performance will be compared against its corresponding 1-DOF harvester. The effect of electromechanical coupling on the performance of the harvester will also be studied in details. Finally, a 1-DOF harvester with stiffening section was proposed to investigate its superiority over its 1-DOF harvester without stiffening section.Bachelor of Engineering (Civil