Hybrid piezoelectric-inductive flow energy harvesting and dimensionless electroaeroelastic analysis for scaling

Piezoelectric and electromagnetic transduction techniques have peculiar advantages to leverage in the growing field of flow energy harvesting from aeroelastic vibrations. This letter presents the concept of hybrid piezoelectric-inductive power generation with electroaeroelastic modeling and simulations. Dimensionless analysis of the coupled system dynamics is indispensable to proper geometric scaling and optimization of aeroelastic energy harvesters. The governing electroaeroelastic equations are given in dimensionless form, and the effects of aeroelastic and electrical properties are investigated in detail toward understanding the dependence of the cut-in speed (flutter speed) and the maximum power output of the harvester on the system parameters. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4789433]