Karman Vortex Creation Using Cylinder for Flutter Energy Harvester Device

Ahmed B Atrah; Mohd Syuhaimi Ab-Rahman; Hanim Salleh; Mohd Zaki Nuawi; Mohd Jailani Mohd Nor; Nordin Bin Jamaludin

doi:10.3390/mi8070227

Karman Vortex Creation Using Cylinder for Flutter Energy Harvester Device

Micromachines (Basel). 2017 Jul 21;8(7):227. doi: 10.3390/mi8070227.

Authors

Ahmed B Atrah^{1

2}, Mohd Syuhaimi Ab-Rahman³, Hanim Salleh⁴, Mohd Zaki Nuawi⁵, Mohd Jailani Mohd Nor⁶, Nordin Bin Jamaludin⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. ahmedbatrah@siswa.ukm.edu.my.
² Directorate General of Electrical Transmission Projects (ETP), Ministry of Electricity, Baghdad 10001, Iraq. ahmedbatrah@siswa.ukm.edu.my.
³ Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. syuhaimi@ukm.edu.my.
⁴ Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. hanim@uniten.edu.my.
⁵ Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. mzn@ukm.edu.my.
⁶ Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. jailani@ukm.edu.my.
⁷ Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. nurdin@ukm.edu.my.

Abstract

This study presents the creation of a Karman vortex for a fluttering electromagnetic energy harvester device using a cylinder. The effects of two parameters, which are the diameter and the position of the cylinder, were investigated on the Karman vortex profile and the amplitude of the fluttering belt, respectively. A simulation was conducted to determine the effect of the creation of the Karman vortex, and an experiment was performed to identify influence of the position of the cylinder on the fluttering belt amplitude. The results demonstrated that vortex-induced vibration occurred at the frequency of the first natural mode for the belt at 3 cm and 10 cm for the diameter and position of the cylinder, respectively. Under such configuration, an electromagnetic energy harvester was attached and vibrated via the fluttering belt inside the turbulent boundary layers. This vibration provides a measured output voltage and can be used in wireless sensors.

Keywords: Karman vortex; aerodynamic flutter; airflow energy harvesting; flow over a bluff body; wind energy.

Grants and funding

AP-2014-002/Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)