A two-degree-of-freedom aeroelastic energy harvesting system with coupled vortex-induced-vibration and wake galloping mechanisms

Vortex-induced vibration (VIV) and wake galloping are two aeroelastic instability phenomena with similar underlying mechanisms related to vortex shedding. Inspired by this common feature, a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) piezoelectric aeroelastic energy harvester (PAEH) is proposed, which employs VIV and wake galloping mechanisms with their respective benefits to improve the wind energy harvesting performance in a wide wind speed range. The proposed 2DOF PAEH overcomes the limitations of conventional one-degree-of-freedom VIV and wake galloping energy harvesters, with the former being only effective in a single and narrow lock-in wind speed range and the latter failing to work at low wind speeds. The modal frequencies of the 2DOF PAEHs are easily manipulated, and the twin mechanisms improve power generation over two lock-in regions at low wind speeds by the VIV mechanism and a third power generation region at relatively higher wind speeds due to wake galloping. A coupled aero-electro-mechanical model is developed and verified by wind tunnel experiments on a prototype. The results show that the proposed harvester efficiently extracts wind energy in a wide wind speed range from 1.1 to 6 m/s. The influence of the distance between the two parallel bluff bodies, in which distance is a critical parameter, on the voltage output is experimentally investigated, revealing three distinct aerodynamic behaviors at different distances.