Designed simulation and experiment of a piezoelectric energy harvesting system based on flow around blunt bodies

To transform fluid´s kinetic energy into electrical energy, in this dissertation, an energy harvesting system based on piezoelectric power generation is designed. In accordance with the theory of flow around blunt bodies, Karman vortex street is firstly created by putting a blunt body into fluid. After that, vortex street deforms PVDF film. Electromechanical energy conversion is then completed on the basis of PVDF film´s piezoelectric effect. ANSYS FEM software was adopted to simulate fluid-solid coupling and electro-mechanical coupling. The tank and PVDF film were used to simulate energy harvesting system hardware in laboratory. The results indicated that output voltage has a positive relationship with inflow velocity and blunt body´s diameter. Simulation and experiment prove the feasibility of this designed system.