Past Seminars and Events 2016

Fluidic Energy Harvesters: Performance Evaluation and Prospects
Wednesday, January 27, 2016, 03:30pm
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Speaker Yiannis Andreopoulos, The City College of New York
Abstract: The available power/flux of kinetic energy in a flowing fluid is proportional to the cube of its velocity and if it is properly harvested can be used for continuously powering very small electronic devices or can be rectified and stored for intermittent use. In the present work we have investigated the three-way coupled Aero-Electro-Mechanical interactions to convert fluidic energy into electricity. Two kinds of fluidic harvesters have been developed. First, thin flexible cantilever beams with patches of piezoelectric materials or surrogate beams with attached strain gages and second, non-linear ones consisting of cantilever beams with a tip mass in the shape of a bluff body excited by vortex-induced-vibrations operating in the resonance mode or by galloping instabilities. We have also demonstrated some unique opportunities which exist to increase the power harvested with fluidic piezoelectric generators by almost two orders of magnitude higher than existing methods by exploiting dynamic non-linearities and deploying multi-element arrays in carefully selected positions in a fluid flow field. These ac-coupled generators convert fluid kinetic energy, which otherwise would be wasted, into electrical energy. Our experimental work has shown that non-linear arrays of such energy harvesters can produce high output voltages in a very broadband range of frequencies. Several unique experiments have been carried out in which single- and multi-element arrays of harvesters have been placed in a large scale wind tunnel and its performance is characterized.
 
Bio: Yiannis Andreopoulos is the Michael Professor of Energy Research of the Grove School of Engineering at CCNY. He holds an Engineering Diploma (Dipl. Ing) in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University in Athens, Greece, a M.Sc. (Aeronautics) from London University in England, a Diploma of Imperial College degree (D.I.C) and a PhD in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine of London University, UK. He has extensive experience in laser techniques and optical methods acquired during postdoctoral research appointments at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, and at Princeton University. Dr. Andreopoulos’ research expertise is in the areas of fluid dynamics which impact transportation, manufacturing, medicine, biology, energy, the environment, and defense and homeland security. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 2008 he received the Charles Sharpe Beecher Prize of the Aerospace Industries Divisional Board of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK.

 

Location Rutgers, Busch, Fiber Optic Auditorium