A piezoelectric oscillator for low-speed wind energy collection

The exploration of low-speed wind harvesters is key to harnessing wind energy and enabling self-powered Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks. In this paper, a piezoelectric oscillator (APO) for low-speed wind energy collection (B-WEC) is proposed and applied to low-speed wind energy harvesting. The magnetic model and power generation characteristics of the harvester are formulated, the magnetic torque is simulated, and the performance under different parameter combinations is tested experimentally. The results show that the APO rotation reduces the magnetic resistive torque by 26.00%. The highest peak-to-peak voltage is 92.35 V for an APO magnet diameter is 8 mm and the angle of the stopper (γ) is 60°, which is 1258.09% higher than fixed (γ is non-existent). Moreover, it has a maximum power of 0.56 mW at 4 m/s, and the optimally matched resistance is 200 kΩ. The harvester can light up about 150 LEDs. The B-WEC designed in this paper can effectively reduce the driving wind speed of piezoelectric wind energy harvesters and can be used as a power source for self-powered networked sensor networks. This study provides a new solution idea for the exploitation of wind energy.