Design of a piezoelectric energy conversion based wind generator

Abstract

This manuscript presents a new experimental wind generator based on piezoelectric energy conversion for low power applications. The aim is to demonstrate an alternative renewable energy generation method for low power applications. The generator has four blades of a propeller equipped with a total of twenty-four (24) thin film piezoelectric transducers (TFPTs). The output voltage is generated using a newly developed circuit topology. The generator was tested at three wind speeds 10 m/s, 14 m/s and 18 m/s, with a maximum output voltage of 10.2 V being produced at a wind speed of 18 m/s. Results show that this generator has promise to be suitable for low power batteryless applications, for example wireless sensor nodes (WSN).