Session: AVT-06/02-01 Advances in Light Vehicles Design + Modeling and Test of Tires

Paper Number: 89093

89093 - Vibration Energy Harvesting in Light Vehicles: Road Tests and Interpretative Models 

The interest towards piezoelectric energy harvesters has been fostered in recent years by the development of ultra-low power electronics. An experimental analysis approach based on modal testing is here proposed in order to detect the best position on a bicycle of a piezo-harvester. Road tests show that vibrations are in the low frequency range so that the energy harvester cannot be excited in resonance to get its largest electrical response. Different tuning strategies of the same piezo-harvester, mounted in the best location, are tested and compared. The best setup is selected by considering as figures of merit the average stress inside the piezo-layer of the harvester (which affects its lifespan) and the maximum electric power which can be harvested. These figures are both analytically estimated from the measured power spectral density of the output open circuit voltage, which is experimentally determined. It is shown that the configuration with the largest tip mass provides the largest delivered power. Nevertheless, in order to preserve the device lifespan, harvesters with oscillator and liquid tip mass may represent a good trade-off between the amount of generated stress and delivered power. The methods presented in this paper can be also adopted for predicting the behavior of harvesters mounted on other light vehicles.

Presenting Author: Alberto Doria University of Padova, Department of Industrial Engineering, DII

Presenting Author Biography: Alberto Doria received the Laurea degree (honors) in Mechanical Engineering (University of Padova 1984). Then he joined the Italian Research Authority, becoming member of the design group of RFX, an Euratom fusion experiment. He received the Specialization in Plasma Engineering and Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion (University of Padova 1987). <br/>Alberto Doria in 1990 joined the University of Padova. Now Alberto Doria is full professor of Machine Mechanics of the University of Padova, he coordinates the activities on Mechanical Vibrations in the laboratories of Modal Analysis and Vibration Mechanics. The present research topics are mechanics, vibrations, light vehicles, robot vibrations, vibration energy harvesting.

Authors:

Domenico Tommasino University of Padova, Department of Industrial Engineering - DII
Alberto Doria University of Padova, Department of Industrial Engineering, DII
Federico Moro University of Padova, Department of Industrial Engineering, DII