Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Committee Chair
Brian Landrum
Committee Member
Gang Wang
Committee Member
Farbod Fahimi
Subject(s)
Piezoelectric devices, Energy harvesting
Abstract
Application of a galloping piezoelectric energy harvester (GPEH) on a small unmanned aerial vehicle is presented. The GPEH is composed of a bluff body on a cantilever with an attached piezoelectric material strip. Incident air induces oscillatory motion of the bluff body and beam, creating oscillatory stress in the piezoelectric strip that generates a current. Modeling the GPEH as a mass-spring system enabled estimating the natural oscillation frequency, activation or galloping speed, and hysteresis range speeds. These values were verified through wind tunnel testing and UAV flight tests with a GPEH mounted at three distances below each wing. Flight speed and wing proximity had the most significant influence on performance. Cruise flight produced the highest voltage of 16.3 volts and a calculated power of 0.0027 W. Adding additional piezoelectric strips with multiple GPEH systems might generate power fro driving sensors.
Recommended Citation
McConnell, Chad, "Application of galloping piezoelectric energy harvesters on a small unmanned aircraft" (2018). Theses. 260.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/260