Ocean Wave Energy Harvesting With a Piezoelectric Coupled Buoy

摘要

An expedient piezoelectric coupled buoy energy harvester from ocean waves is developed. The harvester is made of several piezoelectric coupled cantilevers attached to a floating buoy structure, which can be easily suspended in the intermediate and deep ocean for energy harvesting. In the buoy structure, a slender cylindrical floater is attached on a large sinker. The energy harvesting process is realized by converting the transverse ocean wave energy to the electrical energy via the piezoelectric patches mounted on the cantilevers fixed on the buoy. A smart design of the buoy structure is developed to increase the energy harvesting efficiency by investigation of the effects of the sizes of the floater and the sinker. A numerical model is presented to calculate the generated electric power from buoy energy harvester. The research findings show that up to 22 W electric power can be generated by the proposed expedient buoy harvester with the length of the piezoelectric cantilevers of 1 m and the total length of the buoy of 12 m. The technique proposed in this research can provide an expedient, feasible and stable energy supply from the floating buoy structure.

主权项

1. A wave energy harvester for generating electricity from transverse waves in a body of water, said wave energy harvester comprising a buoy that comprises a float and at least one cantilevered member attached to the float and radiating outwardly away from a longitudinal axis of said float in a position located externally of said float for exposure of said cantilevered member to surrounding water under placement of the buoy in said body of water, the at least one cantilevered member having piezoelectric material thereon arranged to generated electrical power under vibration of said at least one cantilevered member.