Design Parameters Affecting the Performance of Vortex-Induced Vibration Harvesters.

Vortex-induced vibration harvesters are usually equipped with small piezoelectric patches mounted near the cantilever clamp, where the largest longitudinal stress occurs. This paper, aiming to improve energy harvesting performance, investigates the possibilities of extending the patch length and modifying the length and mass of a bluff body mounted on a harvester to induce vortex shedding. A novel analytical model based on dimensionless numbers is presented to determine the output voltage generated by a cantilever harvester subjected to periodic vortex shedding.