Wind-Generated Electricity Using Flexible Piezoelectric Materials: Enhancing the Generation Efficiency

这个项目将研究如何大幅度提高风能发电效率的新方法。由柔性压电材料组成的旗状元件（称为压电元件）将被放置在风中，这将使元件以类似于飘扬的旗帜的方式拍打。扑动在压电材料中引起的应力将在位于压电元件表面的电极之间产生电压（由于压电材料的特性），从而在连接的负载中产生电能。为了提高整体发电效率（输出电力除以输入风力），将研究三个具体领域。首先，将优化压电元件的几何形状（长度、宽度、厚度和刚度），以获得最大的扑动幅度（从而将入射风能转换为压电材料中的应变能）。其次，将对几种不同的柔性压电材料进行表征，以找到最有效地将材料中的应变能转换为电能的材料。第三，将研究各种接口电子电路，其功能是将压电元件产生的电压转换为特定应用所需的幅度和频率，以开发非常高效的接口电路。所提出的方案机械简单，潜在成本低。可能产生的电量将随着放置在风中的压电元件的大小和数量而增加。这种电源可以补充现有的电源，如太阳能电池、电池和汽油发电机，用于军事、工业和消费环境，以及临时应急电源。

This project will study ways of substantially increasing the efficiency of a novel way of generating electricity from the wind. Flag-like elements (termed piezoelements) composed of flexible piezoelectric materials will be positioned in the wind, which will cause the element to flap in a manner similar to a waving flag. The stresses induced in the piezoelectric material by the flapping will generate a voltage (due to the piezoelectric material properties) between the electrodes positioned on the surfaces of the piezoelement and thus electrical power in a connected load. Three specific areas of research will be addressed to increase the overall generation efficiency (output electrical power divided by input wind power). First, the geometry (length, width, thickness, and stiffness) of the piezoelement will be optimized in order to obtain the maximum flapping amplitude (and thus conversion of incident wind energy to strain energy in the piezoelectric material). Second, several different flexible piezoelectric materials will be characterized to find the material that most efficiently converts strain energy in the material into electrical energy. Third, a variety of interface electronic circuits whose function is to convert the voltages generated by the piezoelement into the amplitudes and frequencies needed for a particular application will be studied in order to develop a very efficient interface circuit. The proposed scheme is mechanically simple and potentially low cost. The amount of power that could potentially be generated will scale with the size and number of piezoelements placed in the wind. This source could supplement existing sources such as solar cells, batteries, and gasoline generators in military, industrial, and consumer environments and for temporary emergency power.