Investigation on array interface for raindrop energy harvesting
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Date
2017-06
Authors
Teoh, Chin Hoong
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Abstract
Energy harvesting is important to provide a better tomorrow for human being. There are a lot of energy harvesting method such as nuclear power and fossil fuel. However, all these methods will bring negative impacts to the environment because they are using non-renewable sources. Therefore, energy sources which are renewable and environmentally friendly are more reliable. One of it is raindrop energy harvesting. The concept behind raindrop energy harvesting is the using of piezoelectric energy transducer which convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. The piezoelectric transducer is exposed to raindrop to harvest energy. PVDF is selected as the transducers because it is chemically inert and can harvest high output. In this project, the main purpose is to find out which array setup is the best that can produce highest RMS voltage. This project started with the construction of an efficient array structure hardware. This hardware is important for the data acquisition stage. The hardware is designed to produce optimum vibration for PVDF pieces so that it can harvest high output. As the height of water droplets fall from the syringe pump increasing, the output of PVDF array setup increases. From the result, it can be concluded that series setup is the best to produce highest RMS voltage as compared with other setups. The higher the number of PVDF pieces for series setup, the higher the output voltage harvested. Both of their relationship is directly proportional. The series setup is used for an application to light up a LED. It is believed that more advanced application can be built together with a higher number of PVDF pieces.