A renewable energy harvesting wind barrier based on coaxial contrarotation for self-powered applications on railways

As high-speed and light trains develop, they will become more sensitive to crosswinds. Since strong crosswinds tend to occur in remote areas where power supply is difficult, converting wind energy into electricity to power the devices along the railway will be an effective solution. In this paper, an energy harvesting wind barrier (EHWB) based on coaxial contrarotation is designed to reduce crosswinds and generate electricity for self-powered applications on railways. The proposed EHWB consists of four parts: 1) a porous wind barrier; 2) coaxial contrarotating (CCR) wind turbines; 3) a generator module; and 4) an energy storage module. First, the porous wind barrier installed on both sides of the railway provides a sheltering effect for trains. Second, two CCR wind turbines are installed in the through-hole of the wind barrier to harvest wind energy. Then, the generator module converts wind energy into electrical energy by coils and magnets mounted separately with the wind turbines. Finally, the generated electricity is stored in supercapacitors through slip rings. The experiments show that an average output power of 0.8 W can be obtained by one EHWB unit, indicating that the proposed system has good performance and enormous potential for power generation and self-power applications.