Enhanced performance of piezoelectric energy harvester by installing symmetrical flexible splitter plates

Flow-induced vibration (FIV) energy harvesting technology has emerged as a prospective solution for powering sensors in Ubiquitous Sensor Networks (USN). However, the limited energy harvest efficiency remains a significant challenge, thereby hindering the feasibility of self-powered sensing in USN. Splitter plates have been proven can significantly affect the wake dynamics of the FIV process. Based on this foundation, this paper proposes a novel galloping piezoelectric energy harvester by installing symmetrical flexible splitter plates (GPEH-F) to improve the energy harvest efficiency and address the self-powered sensing in USN. The effects of the installation angles of symmetrical splitter plates on the vibration characteristics and energy harvesting performance of the GPEH-F are experimentally investigated. A theoretical model has been developed to demonstrate that installing flexible splitter plates can impact the aerodynamic forces on the bluff body. Meanwhile, analysis of the flow field obtained through the co-simulation method reveals the internal mechanism that installing the flexible splitter plates influences the vortex shedding characteristics. The experimental results demonstrate that installing the symmetrical flexible splitter plates can significantly enhance the energy harvesting performance. A maximum enhancement ratio of the output voltage of the GPEH-F with α = 30° is up to 127.7 % over the GPEH. Additionally, the GPEH-F can drive a temperature sensor system for real-time environmental monitoring, providing a viable solution for measuring ambient temperature in remote locations.