Development of wind harvesters on building facades for renewable energy generation

Wind energy can be converted into useful electric energy exploiting certain phenomena. This research examines three possible configurations for the Piezoelectric Energy Generator (PEG) for this purpose:

a) Harvester integrated with a cantilever with bluff body that vibrates due to vortex shedding.

b) Piezoelectric patch directly bonded to the internal side of a façade element excited by wind and vibrations.

c) Harvester mounted on the inner side of the façade that acts as a dynamic vibration absorber.

The three configurations are tested with artificial wind using a custom developed test rig.

The experimental results indicated that the best performance can be obtained in the case of the tuned cantilever harvester acting as a dynamic vibration absorber for the façade element. This happens due to the tight dynamic coupling between the harvester and the façade element.