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Flow Energy Piezoelectric Bimorph Nozzle HarvesterThere is a need for a long-life power generation scheme that could be used downhole in an oil well to produce 1 Watt average power. There are a variety of existing or proposed energy harvesting schemes that could be used in this environment but each of these has its own limitations. The vibrating piezoelectric structure is in principle capable of operating for very long lifetimes (decades) thereby possibly overcoming a principle limitation of existing technology based on rotating turbo-machinery. In order to determine the feasibility of using piezoelectrics to produce suitable flow energy harvesting, we surveyed experimentally a variety of nozzle configurations that could be used to excite a vibrating piezoelectric structure in such a way as to enable conversion of flow energy into useful amounts of electrical power. These included reed structures, spring mass-structures, drag and lift bluff bodies and a variety of nozzles with varying flow profiles. Although not an exhaustive survey we identified a spline nozzle/piezoelectric bimorph system that experimentally produced up to 3.4 mW per bimorph. This paper will discuss these results and present our initial analyses of the device using dimensional analysis and constitutive electromechanical modeling. The analysis suggests that an order-of-magnitude improvement in power generation from the current design is possible.
Document ID
20160005617
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Sherrit, Stewart
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Lee, Hyeong Jae
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Kim, Namhyo
(Chevron Corp. Houston, TX, United States)
Sun, Kai
(Chevron Corp. Houston, TX, United States)
Corbett, Gary
(Chevron Corp. Houston, TX, United States)
Walkemeyer, Phillip
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Hasenoehrl, Jennifer
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Hall, Jeffery L.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Colonius, Tim
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Tosi, Luis Phillipe
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Arrazola, Alvaro
(Chevron Corp. Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
May 2, 2016
Publication Date
March 9, 2014
Subject Category
Electronics And Electrical Engineering
Meeting Information
Meeting: SPIE Smart Structures and Non-Destructive Evaluation
Location: San Diego, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: March 9, 2014
End Date: March 13, 2014
Sponsors: International Society for Optical Engineering
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
transducers
bimorphs
Flow Energy Harvesting
Actuators
Piezoelectric Devices

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