Green Waste Energy (Vibration and Wind) Hybrid Harvester Design and Analysis using Analytical and 3D Finite Element Method

PurposeIn this research, a hybrid energy harvester has been modelled and imported into a commercial design analysis tool to investigate the design-dependent parameters related to drawing green energy. The simulation results are related to the energy gained during the operation from the green waste, i.e. sources like vibration and abandoned wind. The present hybrid energy harvester can convert green waste (wind and vibration) energy to electrical energy with the help of a simple design.MethodsA bimorph cantilever beam actuator made of piezoelectric bonded material and utilized to convert vibration to electrical energy analytically. Further, the wind passes through a conical outfit placed on the bimorph beam consisting of two fans to generate the necessary power. The harvester model is developed in SOLIDWORKS and imported to ANSYS (3D-finite element) for the corresponding modal analysis.ResultsThe simulation output (beam modal data) analytically calculates total power at different frequencies. The steps are continued in ANSYS-FLUENT for the computation of wind-related data for energy calculation by following similar steps as same as the vibration.ConclusionsThe power obtained from both modes is combined, and understood that the wind provides a significant part of the energy, i.e. 96.3%, whereas 3.7% from vibration modes.