Small scale wind turbines: A state of the art review

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract
Over the last decade, wind turbine technology has made remarkable progress and new turbines with great variety has been proposed every year. Each of these products has its own advantages and can be very practical when operated under suitable conditions. However, due to their extensive functionalities and wide variety, selecting and operating the appropriate turbine often becomes a challenging and highly specialized task. The primary objective of this research is to examine and compare the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy harvesters, with the main focus on miniature wind turbines. The study contributes to the development of existing technical knowledge in the field of wind energy harvesters by compiling previous research on small wind turbines based on various physical characteristics such as power, structure, and performance. In addition, the article evaluates different harvesters based on statistical information and assesses innovative technologies and the combination of different energy harvesting methods. The comprehensive classification provided for these miniature systems reveals that, besides conventional wind turbines like vertical and horizontal axis turbines, new harvesters such as vortex-bladeless, EWICON, Sophonian, and Involex can perform well under suitable conditions, considering their working principles, energy conversion mechanism, and physical structure.

Keywords

Subjects


- مراجع
 
[1] E. Until, World Population Prospects: 2012 Revision, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs: New York, NY, USA, 2013.
[2] Y. Kumar, J. Ringenberg, S.S. Depuru, V.K. Devabhaktuni, J.W. Lee, E. Nikolaidis, B. Andersen, A. Afjeh, Wind energy: Trends and enabling technologies, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,Vol. 53,pp. 209-224, 2016.
[3] N. Maftouni, Z. Gaffarpour, New technologies of wind energy harvesting, in:  National conference of modern sciences and technologies, Iran, Tehran, 1397. (in Persian)
[4] L. Zhao, Y. Yang, Toward small-scale wind energy harvesting: Design, enhancement, performance comparison, and applicability, Shock and Vibration, 2017.
[5] E. Sardini, M. Serpelloni, Self-powered wireless sensor for air temperature and velocity measurements with energy harvesting capability, IEEE Transactions on instrumentation and measurement, Vol. 60, No. 5,pp. 1838-1844, 2010.
[6] K. Solangi, M. Islam, R. Saidur, N. Rahim, H. Fayaz, A review on global solar energy policy, Renewable and sustainable energy reviews,Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 2149-2163, 2011.
[7] G. Sebald, D. Guyomar, A. Agbossou, On thermoelectric and pyroelectric energy harvesting, Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 18, No.12, pp. 125006, 2009.
[8] H. Pan, L. Qi, Z. Zhang, J. Yan, Kinetic energy harvesting technologies for applications in land transportation: A comprehensive review, Applied Energy, Vol. 286, pp. 116518, 2021.
[9] Z. Lin, Y. Zhang, Dynamics of a mechanical frequency up-converted device for wave energy harvesting, Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 367, pp. 170-184, 2016.
[10] Q. Wen, X. He, Z. Lu, R. Streiter, T. Otto, A comprehensive review of miniatured wind energy harvesters, Nano Materials Science, 2021.
[11] X. Guo, L. Liu, Z. Zhang, S. Gao, T. He, Q. Shi, C. Lee, Technology evolution from micro-scale energy harvesters to nanogenerators, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, Vol. 31, No. 9, pp. 09300, 2021.
[12] M.F. Daqaq, R. Masana, A. Erturk, D. Dane Quinn, On the role of nonlinearities in vibratory energy harvesting: a critical review and discussion, Applied Mechanics Reviews, Vol. 66, No. 4, 2014.
       Computer communications, Vol. 26, No. 11, pp. 1131-1144, 2003.
[13] M. El-Hami, P. Glynne-Jones, N. White, M. Hill, S. Beeby, E. James, A. Brown, J. Ross, Design and fabrication of a new vibration-based electromechanical power generator, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. 92, No. 1-3, pp. 335-342, 2001.
[14] K. Aouali, N. Kacem, N. Bouhaddi, M. Haddar, On the optimization of a multimodal electromagnetic vibration energy harvester using mode localization and nonlinear dynamics, in:  Actuators, MDPI,  pp. 25, 2021.
[15] F. Qian, Y. Liao, L. Zuo, P. Jones, System-level finite element analysis of piezoelectric energy harvesters with rectified interface circuits and experimental validation, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Vol. 151, pp. 107440, 2021.
[16] M. Bedier, D. Galayko, A 100nW Power Overhead Load Interface for Electrostatic Vibrational Energy Harvester with a High Biasing Voltage, Procedia Engineering, Vol. 168, pp. 1693-1697, 2016.
[17] C. Zhang, Z. Lai, X. Rao, J. Zhang, D. Yurchenko, Energy harvesting from a novel contact-type dielectric elastomer generator, Energy conversion and management, Vol. 205, pp. 112351, 2020.
[18] X. Zheng, L. He, S. Wang, X. Liu, R. Liu, G. Cheng, A review of piezoelectric energy harvesters for harvesting wind energy, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, pp. 114190, 2023
[19] S. Bairagi, M. Shahadat, D.M. Mulvihill, W. Ali, Mechanical energy harvesting and self-powered electronic applications of textile-based piezoelectric nanogenerators: A systematic review, Nano Energy, pp. 108414, 2023.
[20] Z. Ren, L. Wu, Y. Pang, W. Zhang, R. Yang, Strategies for effectively harvesting wind energy based on triboelectric nanogenerators, Nano Energy, Vol. 100, pp. 107522, 2022.
[21] X. Dong, Z. Liu, P. Yang, X. Chen, Harvesting Wind Energy Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerators, Nanoenergy Advances, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 245-268, 2022.
[22] S. Priya, C.-T. Chen, D. Fye, J. Zahnd, Piezoelectric windmill: A novel solution to remote sensing, Japanese journal of applied physics, Vol. 44, 1L, L104, 2004.
[23] M. Zhao, A review of recent studies on the control of vortex-induced vibration of circular cylinders, Ocean Engineering, Vol. 285, pp. 115389, 2023.
[24] S. Chen, C.H. Wang, L. Zhao, A two-degree-of-freedom aeroelastic energy harvesting system with coupled vortex-induced-vibration and wake galloping mechanisms, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 122, No. 6, 2023.
[25] H.-T. Li, H. Ren, F. Cao, W.-Y. Qin, Improving the galloping energy harvesting performance with magnetic coupling, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, Vol. 237, pp. 107785, 2023.
[26] L. Zhao, Y. Yang, Enhanced aeroelastic energy harvesting with a beam stiffener, Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 032001, 2015.
[27] M. Bryant, E. Garcia, Modeling and testing of a novel aeroelastic flutter energy harvester, Journal of vibration and acoustics, Vol. 133, No. 1, 2011.
[28] X. Du, H. Chen, C. Li, Z. Li, W. Wang, D. Guo, H. Yu, J. Wang, L. Tang, Wake galloping piezoelectric-electromagnetic hybrid ocean wave energy harvesting with oscillating water column, Applied Energy, Vol. 353, pp. 122081, 2024.
[29] T. Dao, T. Yagi, K. Noguchi, H. Fukushima, G. Mohallem, T. Do, Generation mechanism of wake galloping in two staggered circular cylinders in view of hysteretic flow phenomena, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, Vol. 229, pp. 105127, 2022.
[30] J. Hobeck, D. Inman, Artificial piezoelectric grass for energy harvesting from turbulence-induced vibration, Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 21, No. 10, pp. 105024, 2012.
[31] A. Tummala, R.K. Velamati, D.K. Sinha, V. Indraja, V.H. Krishna, A review on small scale wind turbines, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 56, pp. 1351-1371, 2016.
[32] M.R. Islam, S. Mekhilef, R. Saidur, Progress and recent trends of wind energy technology, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 21, pp. 456-468, 2013.
[33] Z. Li, S. Zhou, Z. Yang, Recent progress on flutter‐based wind energy harvesting, International Journal of Mechanical System Dynamics, Vol. 2, No. 1,pp. 82-98, 2022.
[34] C. Wei, X. Jing, A comprehensive review on vibration energy harvesting: Modelling and realization, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 74, pp. 1-18, 2017.
[35] Z. Yang, S. Zhou, J. Zu, D. Inman, High-performance piezoelectric energy harvesters and their applications, Joule, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 642-697, 2018.
[36] N. Tran, M.H. Ghayesh, M. Arjomandi, Ambient vibration energy harvesters: A review on nonlinear techniques for performance enhancement, International Journal of Engineering Science, Vol. 127, pp. 162-185, 2018.
[37] R.L. Harne, K. Wang, A review of the recent research on vibration energy harvesting via bistable systems, Smart materials and structures, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 023001, 2013.
[38] A. Truitt, S.N. Mahmoodi, A review on active wind energy harvesting designs, International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, Vol. 14, pp. 1667-1675, 2013.
[39] A. Abdelkefi, Aeroelastic energy harvesting: A review, International Journal of Engineering Science, Vol. 100, pp. 112-135, 2016.
[40] Y. Nishi, K. Fukuda, W. Shinohara, Experimental energy harvesting from fluid flow by using two vibrating masses, Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 394, pp. 321-332, 2017.
[41] K. Serfaty, missing ingredients, in:  bunged up, 2021.
[42] D.Y. Leung, Y. Yang, Wind energy development and its environmental impact: A review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 1031-1039, 2012.
[43] D. Yáñez, Vortex Bladeless, in, 2021.
[44] P. Kenna, Vortex bladeless wind turbines, MIT technology, Vol. 5, pp. 52, 2015.
[45] D. Djairam, A. Hubacz, P. Morshuis, J. Marijnisen, J. Smit, The development of an electrostatic wind energy converter (EWICON), in:  2005 International Conference on Future Power Systems, IEEE, pp. 4 pp.-4, 2005.
[46] A. Aouini, The Saphonian, the Zero-Blade Wind Converter, in, 2021.
[47] D. Allaei, Y. Andreopoulos, INVELOX: Description of a new concept in wind power and its performance evaluation, Energy, Vol. 69, pp. 336-344, 2014.
[48] A. Cherubini, A. Papini, R. Vertechy, M. Fontana, Airborne Wind Energy Systems: A review of the technologies, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 51, pp. 1461-1476, 2015.
[49] I. Hwang, W. Kang, S. Kim, High altitude cycloidal wind turbine system design, Procedia Engineering, Vol. 67, pp. 78-84, 2013.
[50] M. Mariello, F. Guido, V.M. Mastronardi, F. Madaro, I. Mehdipour, M.T. Todaro, F. Rizzi, M. De Vittorio, Micro-and nanodevices for wind energy harvesting, in:  Nano Tools and Devices for Enhanced Renewable Energy, Elsevier, pp. 291-374, 2021.
[51] V. Azadeh-Ranjbar, N. Elvin, Y. Andreopoulos, Vortex-induced vibration of finite-length circular cylinders with spanwise free-ends: Broadening the lock-in envelope, Physics of Fluids, Vol. 30, No. 10,pp. 105104, 2018.
[52] Y. Hu, F. Mou, B. Yang, X. Chen, X. Wang, J. Liu, A broadband E-shaped piezoelectric energy harvester based on vortex-shedding induced vibration from low velocity liquid flow, AIP Advances, Vol. 8, No. 12, pp. 125214, 2018.
[53] W. Wang, X. Wang, X. He, M. Wang, H. Shu, K. Xue, Comparisons of bioinspired piezoelectric wind energy harvesters with different layout of stiffeners based on leaf venation prototypes, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. 298, pp. 111570, 2019.
[54] X. He, X. Yang, S. Jiang, Enhancement of wind energy harvesting by interaction between vortex-induced vibration and galloping, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 112, No. 3, pp. 033901, 2018.
[55] Y. Hu, B. Yang, X. Chen, X. Wang, J. Liu, Modeling and experimental study of a piezoelectric energy harvester from vortex shedding-induced vibration, Energy conversion and management, Vol. 162, pp. 145-158, 2018.
[56] A. Abdelkefi, A. Nayfeh, M. Hajj, Design of piezoaeroelastic energy harvesters, Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol. 68, No. 4, pp. 519-530, 2012.
[57] H. Dai, H. Abdelmoula, A. Abdelkefi, L. Wang, Towards control of cross-flow-induced vibrations based on energy harvesting, Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol. 88, No. 4, pp. 2329-2346, 2017.
[58] C. Boragno, R. Festa, A. Mazzino, Elastically bounded flapping wing for energy harvesting, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 100, No. 25, pp. 253906, 2012.
[59] J.D. Hobeck, D. Geslain, D.J. Inman, The dual cantilever flutter phenomenon: a novel energy harvesting method, in:  Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2014, International Society for Optics and Photonics, pp. 906113, 2014.
[60] D. Rancourt, A. Tabesh, L.G. Fréchette, Evaluation of centimeter-scale micro windmills: aerodynamics and electromagnetic power generation, Proc. PowerMEMS, Vol. 20079, pp. 93-96, 2007.
[61] R. Gasch, J. Twele, Wind power plants: fundamentals, design, construction and operation, Springer Science & Business Media, 2011.
 [62]S. Priya, Modeling of electric energy harvesting using piezoelectric windmill, Applied physics letters, Vol. 87, No. 18, pp. 184101, 2005.
[63] G.W. Taylor, J.R. Burns, S. Kammann, W.B. Powers, T.R. Welsh, The energy harvesting eel: a small subsurface ocean/river power generator, IEEE journal of oceanic engineering, Vol. 26, N. 4, pp. 539-547, 2001.
[64] S. Pobering, N. Schwesinger, Power supply for wireless sensor systems, in:  SENSORS, 2008 IEEE, IEEE, pp. 685-688, 2008.
[65] S. Pobering, M. Menacher, S. Ebermaier, N. Schwesinger, Piezoelectric power conversion with self-induced oscillation, Proceedings of the PowerMEMS, pp. 384-387, 2009.
[66] L. Zhao, L. Tang, Y. Yang, Small wind energy harvesting from galloping using piezoelectric materials, in:  Smart materials, adaptive structures and intelligent systems, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, pp. 919-927, 2012.
[67] Y. Yang, L. Zhao, L. Tang, Comparative study of tip cross-sections for efficient galloping energy harvesting, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, No. 6, pp. 064105, 2013.
[68] A. Erturk, W. Vieira, C. De Marqui Jr, D.J. Inman, On the energy harvesting potential of piezoaeroelastic systems, Applied physics letters, Vol. 96, No. 18, pp. 184103, 2010.
[69] A. Erturk, O. Bilgen, M. Fontenille, D.J. Inman, Piezoelectric energy harvesting from macro-fiber composites with an application to morphing-wing aircrafts, in:  Proceedings of the 19th international conference on adaptive structures and technologies, Citeseer, pp. 6-9, 2008.
[70] J. Dias, C. De Marqui Jr, A. Erturk, Hybrid piezoelectric-inductive flow energy harvesting and dimensionless electroaeroelastic analysis for scaling, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, No. 4, pp. 044101, 2013.
[71] J. Dias, C. De Marqui Jr, A. Erturk, Three-degree-of-freedom hybrid piezoelectric-inductive aeroelastic energy harvester exploiting a control surface, AIAA journal, Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 394-404, 2015.
[72] J. Park, G. Morgenthal, K. Kim, S.-D. Kwon, K.H. Law, Power evaluation of flutter-based electromagnetic energy harvesters using computational fluid dynamics simulations, Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, Vol. 25, No. 14, pp. 1800-1812, 2014.
[73] H.-J. Jung, S.-W. Lee, The experimental validation of a new energy harvesting system based on the wake galloping phenomenon, Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 20, No. 5, pp.  055022, 2011.
[74] A. Abdelkefi, J.M. Scanlon, E. McDowell, M.R. Hajj, Performance enhancement of piezoelectric energy harvesters from wake galloping, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, No. 3, pp. 033903, 2013.
 
 

  • Receive Date 15 April 2023
  • Revise Date 01 January 2024
  • Accept Date 14 January 2024