Abstract
A structure of dual-branch piezoelectric unimorph reed with the resonant cavity of a harmonica to harvest wind energy for the wireless sensor networks was introduced in this paper. After the experiments and simulation analysis, a new mathematical model was established for further research on this structure. The vibration of the reed in the resonant cavity was dealt with as the damping forced vibration of a triangular pulse excitation. This model well explained why the dual-branch reed can vibrate much stronger than the no-branch reed. The experiment proved that the proposed structure and model are feasible and efficacious, the dual-branch reed not only increases the vibration amplitude of the piezoelectric reed but also exhibits a wide wind speed range. A prototype wind energy harvester with a wind inlet dimension of 25 mm × 25 mm can generate an maximum power of 6.7 mW and have an efficiency of 3.5%, with wind speed from 3.2 m/s to 16 m/s.
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