Scalable electromagnetic energy harvester for wind turbine rotor blade applications

One of the biggest challenges in structural health monitoring for rotor blades in wind turbines is to provide enough energy to power wireless sensor nodes. Batteries are not an adequate solution due to their limited lifetime and conventional cabling fails due to the rotation of the rotor blade. Therefore, we present an electromagnetic energy harvester that is specifically designed to be operated inside rotor blades and can generate a sufficient amount of energy. It uses the changing gravitational force vector to move a permanent magnet in a tube and converts this mechanical into electrical energy by coils arranged around the tube. Finite element methods simulations were performed to estimate the generated energy and an extensive parameter sweep of several key design parameters provided guidance for an optimized performance of a prototype. This device was characterized in the lab followed by a field test in a wind turbine where it was operated for several days and provided a continuous and rectified power of 6 mW, enough to power conventional wireless accelerometers, typically used within a predictive maintenance concept for the vibrational monitoring of rotor blades.

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