Date

2016

Author

Avşar, Ahmet Levent

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In recent days, alternative energy resources are discussed as an important topic for different applications, therefore an extensive study is conducted for the sustainable and renewable energy resources. The importance of the sustainable and renewable energy resources is also increased due to the fossil fuels usage and environmental pollution. For this reason, techniques for obtaining alternative energy resources, such as from sun and wind, are developed rapidly. Moreover, the energy loss during the operational conditions of engineering structures can be regained and the efficiency can also be increased via various novel energy harvesting methods. During the operation of structures, vibration can be seen in different frequency range and amplitude. By using piezoelectric material coupled with passive host structure, energy can be harvested from vibrating structures. Due to the nature of piezoelectric material, voltage is obtained by deformation of the piezoelectric material and harvested voltage can be converted to the practicable energy through a special circuit. This energy can be optimized by using a suitable piezoelectric material via selection of the geometry and application of piezoelectric material to proper positions over the host structure. The objective of this study is to harvest energy from vortex air loading by using piezoelectric material. Therefore, different piezoelectric materials and structures coupled with suitable host structural components are investigated in the framework of this study. It is also aimed to use both analytical/numerical and experimental methods effectively during the design of the vortex energy harvester. Finally, it is aimed to design piezoelectric vortex energy harvester, which consists of a special mechanism to change the diameter of the bluff body and works at different flow velocities. This design can be expected to be made as smart by arranging the diameter of the bluff body with respect to different flow velocities with a dedicated control system.

Subject Keywords

Piezoelectric materials., Energy harvesting., Vortex-motion., Piezoelectricity., Vibration.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12619902/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/25581

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis