Results are presented from the design, fabrication and testing of an electromagnetic-inductor device to convert aeroelastic-induced oscillations of an airfoil into electricity. The energy harvester consists of three magnets configured such that the force-displacement relationship can be described by a fifth-degree polynomial. the integration of the harvester into a two-degree-of-freedom, pitch/plunge airfoil system introduces nonlinear stiffness into the plunge direction. This nonlinearity gives rise to limit cycle oscillations which, in turn, are converted to electric power by the harvester. Experimental measurements from wind tunnel tests are compared to predictions of limit cycle response and resulting power generation using a two-degree-of-freedom theoretical model of the airfoil system. Once the limit cycle response has been initiated, pitch/plunge response amplitudes and the resulting power generation increases with airspeed.
- airfoil,
- energy harvesting,
- oscillator
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/christopher_lee/40/
© 2013 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This article was published in The Proceedings of the 54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference and can be found here.