PL EN
Design, Analysis, and Performance Evaluation of a Bladeless Vibration-Based Piezoelectric Energy-Harvesting Wind Turbine
 
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University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, 39161, Pakistan
 
 
Autor do korespondencji
Naseer Ahmad   

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, 39161, Pakistan
 
 
 
SŁOWA KLUCZOWE
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STRESZCZENIE
This study investigates a bladeless wind turbine concept that converts wind-induced structural vibrations into electrical energy through piezoelectric transduction. Three prototype configurations with different bluff body geometries (cube, cylinder, and sphere) mounted on elastic masts were designed and tested. Computational simulations including Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for aerodynamic forces and finite-element modal and harmonic analyses in ANSYS were performed. Wind tunnel experiments at 6.94 m/s (25 km/h) were also conducted to measure prototype voltage output. CFD analysis provided drag, lift, and axial forces for each geometry, while modal analysis identified natural frequencies and mode shapes. A piezoelectric transducer was bonded to the mast at the location of maximum deformation predicted by the third bending mode. Harmonic response simulations estimated the voltage output, which was validated against experimental measurements. Results showed that the cube-tipped mast produced the highest open-circuit voltage (~5 mV), followed by the cylinder (4 mV) and the sphere (3 mV) at 6.94 m/s. The sphere-tipped design demonstrated the lowest drag and voltage output. Numerical simulations from ANSYS closely matched the experimental results, confirming the reliability of the coupled CFD–FEA approach. Overall, the findings demonstrated the feasibility of bladeless wind energy harvesters and highlighted the influence of bluff body geometry on aerodynamic forces, structural response, and harvested power. These results provide a foundation for optimizing piezoelectric wind harvesters toward higher efficiency and practical deployment. Keywords: Piezoelectric energy harvesting, Bladeless wind turbine, Vibration-based energy harvesting, Flow-induced vibrations (FIV), Vortex-induced vibration (VIV), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
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