Modeling and preliminary analysis of piezoelectric energy harvester based on cylindrical tube conveying fluctuating fluid

In this contribution, a novel type of piezoelectric tubular energy harvester based on fluctuating fluid pressure is investigated. Analytic model of the proposed energy harvester is built under the assumption of axisymmetric radial vibration. Exact solution of the piezoelectric vibrating tube is obtained with its output performances formulated. A series of numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the influences of geometrical parameters, input mechanical load parameters and output electrical load parameters upon the output performances of the proposed piezoelectric tubular energy harvester. The model and simulation results indicate the potential of the proposed piezoelectric tubular energy harvester. It is expected that the energy harvester be useful in powering wireless sensor network for the health monitoring of hydraulic systems, where fluid conveying pipe vibration is omnipresent.