Wind harvester harnesses energy from low velocity wind

When exposed to winds with a velocity as low as 2m/s, the device can produce a voltage of 3V and generate electricity power of up to 290μW, which can power a commercial sensor that can then send acquired data to a mobile phone or a computer.

The light and durable device wind harvester also diverts any electricity that is not in use to a battery, where it can be stored to power devices in the absence of wind.

The scientists said their invention has the potential to replace batteries in powering LED lights and structural health monitoring sensors.

Measuring 15cm by 20cm, the NTU team said the device can easily be mounted on the sides of buildings and would be ideal for urban environments such as Singaporean suburbs where average wind speeds are less than 2.5m/s, outside of thunderstorms.

The team’s findings have been published in Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing.

In their paper the team said the wind harvester utilises the so-called galloping effect coupled with triboelectric-based energy conversion to convert flow-induced structural vibration into electricity.