Abstract

In this paper, we investigate underwater energy harvesting of a parallel array of nominally identical ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) subjected to low frequency base excitation in water. The IPMCs are connected in parallel and shunted with a varying resistor. We model the IPMCs as slender beams with uniform cross section undergoing small oscillations in an otherwise quiescent viscous fluid. We utilize a boundary element approach to compute the hydrodynamic loading on each structure, which is due to the oscillations of the whole array. Leveraging recent findings on sensing in ionic polymer metal composites, we propose a coupled electromechanical model for predicting energy harvesting as a function of the IPMCsí impedance and the base excitation. To validate our theoretical predictions, we perform experiments on an in-house fabricated array of five centimeter-size composites, which we characterize on a dedicated test rig. We experimentally determine the power harvested by varying the excitation frequency in the broad range 2ñ35 Hz and the shunting resistance from 1 to 1000 Ohm.

Autore Pugliese

• Soria Leonardo

Tutti gli autori

• Cellini F , Intartaglia C , Soria L , Porfiri M

Titolo volume/Rivista

SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES

Anno di pubblicazione

2014

ISSN

0964-1726

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Scopus

12

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

2017-04-23 03:20:56

Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile