A Case Study of Combined Application of Smart Materials in a ‎Thermal Energy Harvester with Vibrating Action

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Logistics Engineering, Material Handling and Construction Machines, Mechanical Engineering Faculty, ‎Technical University of Sofia, Sofia, 1797, Bulgaria

2 Department of Theory of Mechanisms and Machines, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Technical University of Sofia, Sofia, 1797, Bulgaria

3 Department of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems and Control Processes, Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics,‎ Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia‎

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a case study of a combined application of smart materials in a thermal energy harvester with vibrating action. The conceptual design of the harvester is based on a Shape Memory Alloy wire attached to the free end of a piezoelectric flexible cantilever beam intended for generation of electrical energy utilizing a constant heat source. A mathematical model containing three differential equations describing the dynamics of the mechanical, electrical and thermal subsystems is developed. The Shape Memory Alloy hysteretic behaviour is considered in the mathematical model. An essential observation is the system oscillates at two frequencies lower one of which depends on the temperature time constant and the higher one is determined by the natural frequency of the mechanical subsystem. The comparison of the numerical solutions and the experimentally obtained graphs of the harvester output characteristics shows a good degree of coincidence.

Keywords

Main Subjects

[1] Percy, S., Knight, C., McGarry, S., Post, A., Moore, T., Cavanagh, K., Thermal Energy Harvesting for Application at MEMS Scale, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2014.
[2] Datas, A., Vaillon, R., Thermionic-enhanced near-field thermophotovoltaics, Nano Energy, 61, 2019, 10-17.
[3] Xiong, J., Li, F., Liu, J., Fusion of Different Height Pyroelectric Infrared Sensors for Person Identification, IEEE Sensors Journal, 16(2), 2016, 436-446.
[4] Liang, G., Zhou, J., Huang, X., Analytical model of parallel thermoelectric generator, Applied Energy, 88(12), 2011, 5193-5199.
[5] Seog, S., Choi, H.J., Kim, S.D.,  Lee, W.H., Woo, S.K., Han, M.H., Development of alkali metal thermal-to-electric converter unit cells using Mo/TiN electrode, Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society, 54(3), 2017, 200-204.
[6] L. Johnson, J. Muller, US Patent, No. US7160639 B2, 2007.
[7] Patterson, D.E, Jamison K.D, Durrett, M., Kashani, A., Gedeon, D., CVD diamond based miniature stirling cooler, International cryocooler conference, 2007.
[8] Burugupally, S.P., Weiss, L., Power Generation via Small Length Scale Thermo-Mechanical Systems: Current Status and Challenges, a Review, Energies, 11(9), 2018, 2253.
[9] Rosa, R.J., Characteristics of a closed Brayton cycle piston engine, IEEE Western Canada conference on computer, power and communications systems in a rural environment, Regina, Sask., Canada, 153–159, 1991.
[10] Pierens, M., Thermeau, J.P,  Le Pollès, T., Duthil, P., Experimental characterization of a thermoacoustic travelling-wave refrigerator, International conference on fluid mechanics, heat transfer and thermodynamics, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1057-1061, 2011.
[11] Hussain, M.N, Janajreh, I., Analysis of Pressure Wave Development in a Thermo-acoustic Engine and Sensitivity Study, Energy Procedia, 142, 2017, 1488-1495.
[12] Hsu, C-J., Sandoval, S.M., Wetzlar, K.P., Carman, G.P., Thermomagnetic conversion efficiencies for ferromagnetic materials, Journal of Applied Physics, 110, 2011,123923–123927.
[13] Bulgrin, K.E., Ju, Y.S., Carman, G.P., Lavine, A.S., A coupled thermal and mechanical model of a thermal energy harvesting device, ASME 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA, 327–335, 2009.
[14] Todorov, T., Mitrev, R., Penev, I., Force analysis and kinematic optimization of a fluid valve driven by shape memory alloys, Reports in Mechanical Engineering, 1(1), 2020, 61-76.
[15] Webster, J., High integrity adaptive SMA components for gas turbine applications, Smart Structures and Materials 2006: Industrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies, San Diego, California, United States, 61710F, 2006.
[16] Song, G., Ma, N., Li, H,. Applications of shape memory alloys in civil structures, Engineering Structures, 28, 2006, 1266-1274.
[17] Karimi, S., Konh, B., 3D Steerable Active Surgical Needle, Design of Medical Devices Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 1-6, 2019.
[18] Otsuka, K., Wayman, C.M., Shape memory materials, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998.
[19] Schiller, E.H., Heat Engine Driven by Shape Memory Alloys: Prototyping and Design, Master thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univesrity, Blacksburg, VA, 2002.
[20] Jani, J.M., Leary, M., Subic, A., Gibson, M.A., A review of shape memory alloy research, applications and opportunities, Materials & Design (1980-2015), 56, 2014, 1078-1113.
[21] Wang, J., Wu, C., Dai, Y., Zhao, Z., Wang, A., Zhang, T., Wang, Z., Achieving ultrahigh triboelectric charge density for efficient energy harvesting, Nature Communications,88(8), 2017, 1-8.
[22] Deng, H., Du, Y., Wang, Z., Ye, J., Zhang, J., Ma, M., Zhong, X., Poly-stable energy harvesting based on synergetic multistable vibration, Communications Physics, 21(2), 2019, 1-10.
[23] Namli, O., Taya, M., Design of piezo-SMA composite for thermal energy harvester under fluctuating temperature, Journal of Applied Mechanics, 78(3), 2011, 031001.
[24] Avirovik, D., Kumar, A., Bodnar, R., Priya, S., Remote light energy harvesting and actuation using shape memory alloy-piezoelectric hybrid transducer, Smart Materials and Structures, 22(5), 2013, 052001.
[25] Reddy, А., Umapathy, М., Ezhilaras,i D., Uma, G., Piezoelectric Energy Harvester With Shape Memory Alloy Actuator Using Solar Energy, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, 6(4), 1409-1415, 2015.
[26] Todorov, T., Nikolov, N., Todorov, G., Ralev, Y., Modelling and investigation of a hybrid thermal energy harvester, International Conference on Engineering Vibration (ICoEV 2017), MATEC Web of Conferences 148, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2018, 1-6.
[27] Marinković, D., Rama, G., Zehn, M., Abaqus implementation of a corotational piezoelectric 3-node shell element with drilling degree of freedom, Facta Universitatis Series: Mechanical Engineering, 17(2), 2019, 269 – 283.
[28] Rama, G., Marinković, D., Zehn, M. Efficient three-node finite shell element for linear and geometrically nonlinear analyses of piezoelectric laminated structures, Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 29(3), 2018, 345–357.
[29] Rama, G., Marinkovic, D., Zehn, M., High performance 3-node shell element for linear and geometrically nonlinear analysis of composite laminates, Composites Part B: Engineering, 151, 2018, 118-126.
[30] Noll, M-U., Lentz, L., Wagner, U., On the discretization of a bistable cantilever beam with application to energy harvesting, Facta Universitatis Series: Mechanical Engineering, 17(2), 2019, 125 – 139.
[31] Ikuta, K., Tsukamoto, M., Hirose, S., Mathematical model and experimental verification of shape memory alloy for designing micro actuator, Proceedings of IEEE MEMS, Nara, Japan, 1991.
[32] Madill, D., David, W., Modeling and L2-Stability of a Shape Memory Alloy Position Control System, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 6(4), 1998, 473-481.
[33] Donald, J. L., Engineering analysis of smart material systems, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2007.
[34] Preumont, A., Mechatronics - Dynamics of Electromechanical and Piezoelectric Systems, Springer, London, 2006.
[35] Fursov, A.S., Todorov, T.S., Krylov, P.A., Mitrev R.P., On the Existence of Oscillatory Modes in a Nonlinear System with Hystereses, Differential Equations, 56, 2020,1081–1099.