The energy harvesting eel: A small subsurface ocean/river power generator
The energy harvesting eel: A small subsurface ocean/river power generator
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DOI：
10.1109/48.972090
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发表时间：
2001-10-01
影响因子：
4.1
通讯作者：
Welsh, TR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Taylor, GW;Burns, JR;Welsh, TR
能量收集鳗鱼（Eel）是一种新的设备，它使用压电聚合物将海洋和河流中的机械流动能量转换为电能。鳗鱼发电机利用海崖物体后面的规则涡流轨迹来使压电元件产生应变;产生的波动运动类似于自然鳗鱼游泳的运动。内部电池用于存储鳗鱼产生的剩余能量，供小型无人值守传感器或机器人使用。由于市售压电聚合物的性质，Eels将相对便宜，并且在尺寸上容易缩放，并且根据系统尺寸和当地环境的流速，具有从毫瓦到许多瓦的发电能力。一个实用的鳗鱼结构已经开发出来，使用市售的压电聚合物，PVDF。未来的鳗鱼可能会使用更有效的电致伸缩聚合物。从水流的流体动力学和鳗鱼的结构元件之间的相互作用，通过机械能输入到压电材料，最后通过优化的谐振电路提供的电力输出的系统的每个方面已经建模和测试。完整的Eel系统，包括发电和存储系统，已在波浪水槽中进行了演示。鳗鱼的未来工作将集中在开发和部署一个小型，轻型，一瓦的发电装置，最初在河口，然后在海洋中。这种EEL将有能力为分布式机器人组或遥感器阵列的电池或电容器充电，从而在含有流动水的区域无限期地延长使命寿命。
The Energy Harvesting Eel (Eel) is a new device that uses piezoelectric polymers to convert the mechanical flow energy, available in oceans and rivers, to electrical power. Eel generators make use of the regular trail of traveling vortices behind a bluff body to strain the piezoelectric elements; the resulting undulating motion resembles that of a natural eel swimming. Internal batteries are used to store the surplus energy generated by the Eel for later use by a small, unattended sensor or robot. Because of the properties of commercially available piezoelectric polymers, Eels will be relatively inexpensive and are easily scaleable in size and have the capacity to generate from milli-watts to many watts depending on system size and flow velocity of the local environment. A practical Eel structure has been developed that uses the commercially available piezoelectric polymer, PVDF. Future Eels may use more efficient electrostrictive polymer. Every aspect of the system from the interactions between the hydrodynamics of the water flow and structural elements of the Eel, through the mechanical energy input to the piezoelectric material, and finally the electric power output delivered through an optimized resonant circuit has been modeled and tested. The complete Eel system, complete with a generation and storage system, has been demonstrated in a wave tank. Future work on the Eel will focus on developing and then deploying a small, lightweight, one-watt power generation unit, initially in an estuary and then subsequently in the ocean. Such Eels will have the ability to recharge batteries or capacitors of a distributed robotic group, or remote sensor array, thus extending the mission life indefinitely in regions containing flowing water.