Hichem Abdelmoula

Mode shape combination in a two-dimensional vibration energy harvester through mass loading structural modification

Mode shapes in the design of mechanical energy harvesters, as a means of performance increase, have been largely overlooked. Currently, the vast majority of energy harvester designs employ some variation of a single-degree-of-freedom cantilever, and the mode shapes of such beams are well known. This is especially true for the first bending mode, which is almost exclusively the chosen vibration mode for energy harvesting. Two-dimensional beam shapes (those which curve, meander, spiral, etc., in a plane) have recently gained research interest, as they offer freedom to modify the vibration characteristics of the harvester beam for achieving higher power density. In this study, the second bending mode shape of the “Elephant” two-dimensional beam shape is examined, and its interaction with the first bending mode is evaluated. A combinatory mode shape created by using mass loading structural modification to lower the second bending modal frequency was found to interact with the first bending mode. This is possible since the first two bending modes do not share common areas of displacement. The combined mode shape is shown to produce the most power of any of the considered mode shapes.

Piezoaeroelastic investigation on the control and energy harvesting of galloping systems

A piezoaeroelastic investigation on the control and energy harvesting of galloping system is performed when considering complex electrical impedance. The aeroelastic system is composed of a unimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam with a square cylinder attached at its tip and subjected to transverse galloping excitations. A nonlinear distributed-parameter model is developed when considering various scenarios of connections between electrical resistance, capacitance, and inductance. Theoretical strategies are developed in order to determine the relation between the onset speed of galloping and the components of the electrical impedance. The results show that the presence of the capacitance and inductance is not beneficial in terms of improving the levels of the harvested power crossing the load resistance. On the other hand, it is shown that the inclusion of these electrical components may be useful for energy harvesting purposes when charging/discharging batteries. One of the important findings of this study is that including an inductance in connection to a load resistance is very beneficial for control purposes because a significant increase in the onset speed of galloping can be obtained.