Related papers: Energy Harvesting with a Liquid-Metal Microfluidic…
An ambient energy harvesting device was design and fabricated. It can harness kinetic energy of rain droplets and low velocity wind flows. The energy converted into electrical energy by using a single device. The technique used by the…
The impact of liquid drops onto solid surfaces leads to conversion of kinetic energy of directed drop motion into various forms of energy including surface energy, vibrational energy, heat, and under suitable conditions, electrical energy.…
We theoretically study a vibrating pair of parallel electrodes bridged by a (deformed) liquid droplet, which is a recently developed microfluidic device to harvest vibrational energy. The device can operate with various liquids, including…
Hydraulic energy is a key component of the global energy mix, yet there exists no practical way of harvesting it at small scales, from flows at low Reynolds number. This has triggered the search for alternative hydroelectric conversion…
Conventional heat engines typically require two distinct thermal reservoirs, with their efficiency strictly bounded by the Carnot limit. We present a theoretical design for a phase-change heat engine that utilizes water as the working fluid…
We study a rain-powered energy-harvesting device inspired by the natural impact of raindrops on leaves. In nature, a raindrop striking a leaf at high speed causes it to deform and vibrate. Inspired by this, our device uses an elastic beam…
Developing low-weight, frugal and sustainable power sources for resource-limited settings appears to be a challenging proposition for the advancement of next-generation sensing devices and beyond. Here, we report the use of centimeter-sized…
The development of energy harvesting systems based on fluid/structure interactions is part of the global search for innovative tools to produce renewable energy. In this paper, the possibility to harvest energy from a flow using…
Electrokinetic energy harvesting from evaporation-driven flows in porous materials has recently been the subject of numerous studies, particularly with the development of nanomaterials with high conversion efficiencies. The configuration in…
This work demonstrates preliminary results on energy harvesting from a linearly stable flutter-type system with circulatory friction forces. Harmonic external forcing is applied to study the energy flow in the steady sliding configuration.…
Fluttering piezoelectric plates may harvest energy from a fluid flow by converting the plate's mechanical deformation into electric energy in an output circuit. This work focuses on the influence of the arrangement of the piezoelectric…
This paper introduces a thermal energy harvester turning thermal gradients into electricity by coupling a bimetallic strip to an electret-based converter: the bimetallic strip behaves as a thermal-to-mechanical power converter turning…
Energy harvesting from vortex-induced vibrations is a promising technology that relies on the vibrations of bluff bodies due to vortex shedding. Increasing the vibration amplitude at a given free stream kinetic energy is therefore…
We exploit the combinatorial advantage of electrokinetics and tortutosity of cellulose-based paper network on a laboratory grade filter paper for the development of a simple, inexpensive, yet extremely robust (shows constant performance…
This paper presents a new device able to turn thermal gradients into electricity by using a bimetal-based heat engine coupled to an electrostatic converter. A two-steps conversion is performed: (i) a curved bimetallic strip turns the…
This paper introduces a new semi-flexible device able to turn thermal gradients into electricity by using a curved bimetal coupled to an electret-based converter. In fact, a two-steps conversion is carried out: (i) a curved bimetal turns…
Energy harvesting is a modern concept which makes dissipated heat useful by transferring thermal energy to other excitations. Most of the existing principles for energy harvesting are realized in systems which are heated continuously, for…
Industrial wireless sensor networks enable real-time data collection, analysis, and control by interconnecting diverse industrial devices. In these industrial settings, power outlets are not always available, and reliance on battery power…
Self-sustained oscillations resulting from fluid-solid instabilities, such as the flutter of a flexible flag in axial flow, can be used to harvest energy if one is able to convert the solid energy into electricity. Here, this is achieved…
Vibration-based flow energy harvesting enables robust, in-situ energy extraction for low-power applications, such as distributed sensor networks. Fluid-structure instabilities dictate a harvester's viability since the structural response to…