ISSN: 1304-7191 | E-ISSN: 1304-7205
Electricity production from piezoelectric patches mounted over flexible membrane wing at low reynolds numbers
1Wind Engineering and Aerodynamic Research Laboratory, Department of Energy System Engineering, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey; Department of Energy System Engineering, Adana Alparslan Turkes Science and Technology University, Adana, Turkey
2Wind Engineering and Aerodynamic Research Laboratory, Department of Energy System Engineering, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey; Energy Conversion Research and Application Center, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey
3Wind Engineering and Aerodynamic Research Laboratory, Department of Energy System Engineering, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey
4Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey
Sigma J Eng Nat Sci 2021; 39(1): 70-79
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Abstract

One of the most necessities of our age is undoubtfully to supply the ever increasing energy demand. The world population is growing correspondingly with the developing technology and it causes more energy demand. Furthermore, when the f act that fossil fuel which is the most used energy source in the world in our age will inevitably come to an end is taken into consideration; the need to search for new energy sources has become an obligation. A piezoelectric effect is a crucial option tha t is used as a new energy conversion method and the researchers are trying to find ways to develop it. Thanks to their special molecular structure, the mechanical force applied to the piezoelectric materials creates an electric charge. In this way, the con version of environmental vibrations into electrical energy can be achieved with piezoelectric materials. This experimental study aims to turn deformations and vibrational motions caused by the air on a flexible membrane wing into electrical energy thanks t o piezoelectric materials. In this respect, a flexible membrane Zimmerman wing with a 1.5 aspect ratio was used. Smoke wire experiments were performed on the wing at 2.8x10 4 and 5.6x10 4 Reynolds numbers to capture and understand how the characteristics for m of the flow over the flexible membrane surface is. Afterward, three different types of 4 piezoelectric materials were used over the flexible membrane wing and energy calculation was made over 470 ohm resistor at various Reynolds numbers and angles of att ack.