Ricerc@Sapienza

We assess the accuracy of plane state assumptions in modeling the bending of bimorph piezoelectric cantilevers. Reference solutions are obtained by means of fully three-dimensional simulations. We solve a model, compliant with the standard theoretical background, able to deal with large deflections, and aimed at estimating the electrical energy har- vesting potential. We show that the two assumptions of plane stress and plane strain yield very different results in terms of strain and therefore lead to substantially different estimates of electrical power.

This paper proposes a comprehensive method for the electromechanical probabilistic analysis of piezoelectric energy harvesters subjected to modulated and filtered white Gaussian noise (WGN) at the base. Specifically, the dynamic excitation is simulated by means of an amplitude-modulated WGN, which is filtered through the Clough-Penzien filter.

This study focuses on the conceptual development, analytical modeling and experimental wind tunnel testing of a high efficiency energy harvesting (EH) device, based on piezoelectric materials, with an application for the sustainability of smart buildings.

This paper investigates the potential of tuned mass dampers (TMDs) coupled with inerter devices in different tuned mass dampers inerter (TMDI) topologies to dissipate oscillations in tall buildings due to vortex shedding in the across wind direction while generating electric energy. The TMDI is first optimized for minimizing peak accelerations for serviceability purposes in a 74 storey benchmark steel building under different wind intensity levels.

The tuned mass-damper-inerter (TMDI) couples the classical tuned mass-damper (TMD) with an inerter device which develops a resisting force proportional to the relative acceleration of its ends by the “inertance” constant. Previous works demonstrated that the TMDI leads to efficient broadband vibration control for a range of different structures under different dynamic excitations.

We study decentralized estimation of time-varying signals at a fusion center, when energy harvesting sensors transmit sampled data over rate-constrained links. We propose dynamic strategies to select radio parameters, sampling set, and harvested energy at each node, with the aim of estimating a time-varying signal while ensuring: i) accuracy of the recovery procedure, and ii) stability of the batteries around a prescribed operating level.

This study focuses on the development and integrated design over a 24-month period of a high efficiency Energy Harvesting (EH) temperature sensor, based on piezoelectric materials, with applications for the sustainability of smart buildings, structures and infrastructures. The EH sensor, harvests the airflow inside Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, using a piezoelectric component and an appropriate customizable aerodynamic fin that takes advantage of specific air flow effects, and is implemented for optimizing the energy consumption in buildings.

This paper aims to show some applications of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), an energy harvesting technique, as clean
power source to supply low power device for application like wireless sensor network (WSN) for environmental monitoring.
Furthermore, MFC can be used directly as biosensor to analyse parameters like pH and temperature or arranged in form of
cluster devices in order to use as small power plant. An MFC is a bioreactor that converts energy stored in chemical bonds of