Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published April 1, 2014 | Published
Book Section - Chapter Open

Flow energy piezoelectric bimorph nozzle harvester

Abstract

There is a need for a long-life power generation scheme that could be used downhole in an oil well to produce 1 Watt average power. There are a variety of existing or proposed energy harvesting schemes that could be used in this environment but each of these has its own limitations. The vibrating piezoelectric structure is in principle capable of operating for very long lifetimes (decades) thereby possibly overcoming a principle limitation of existing technology based on rotating turbo-machinery. In order to determine the feasibility of using piezoelectrics to produce suitable flow energy harvesting, we surveyed experimentally a variety of nozzle configurations that could be used to excite a vibrating piezoelectric structure in such a way as to enable conversion of flow energy into useful amounts of electrical power. These included reed structures, spring mass-structures, drag and lift bluff bodies and a variety of nozzles with varying flow profiles. Although not an exhaustive survey we identified a spline nozzle/piezoelectric bimorph system that experimentally produced up to 3.4 mW per bimorph. This paper will discuss these results and present our initial analyses of the device using dimensional analysis and constitutive electromechanical modeling. The analysis suggests that an order-of-magnitude improvement in power generation from the current design is possible.

Additional Information

© 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). The research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of the California Institute of Technology, was carried out under a contract with the National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA). Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

Attached Files

Published - 90570D.pdf

Files

90570D.pdf
Files (1.1 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:3d790c0f933d631262baeed13020d9cb
1.1 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
January 14, 2024