School of Engineering and Architecture, University College Cork, T12K8AF Cork, Ireland.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jul 5;22(13):5050. doi: 10.3390/s22135050.
Recently, piezoelectric materials have received remarkable attention in marine applications for energy harvesting from the ocean, which is a harsh environment with powerful and impactful waves and currents. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, although there are various designs of piezoelectric energy harvesters for marine applications, piezoelectric materials have not been employed for sensory and measurement applications in marine environment. In the present research, a drifter-based piezoelectric sensor is proposed to measure ocean waves' height and period. To analyze the motion principle and the working performance of the proposed drifter-based piezoelectric sensor, a dynamic model was developed. The developed dynamic model investigated the system's response to an input of ocean waves and provides design insights into the geometrical and material parameters. Next, finite element analysis (FEA) simulations using the commercial software COMSOL-Multiphysics were carried out with the help of a coupled physics analysis of Solid Mechanics and Electrostatics Modules to achieve the output voltages. An experimental prototype was fabricated and tested to validate the results of the dynamic model and the FEA simulation. A slider-crank mechanism was used to mimic ocean waves throughout the experiment, and the results showed a close match between the proposed dynamic modeling, FEA simulations, and experimental testing. In the end, a short discussion is devoted to interpreting the output results, comparing the results of the simulations with those of the experimental testing, sensor's resolution, and the self-powering functionality of the proposed drifter-based piezoelectric sensor.
最近，压电材料在海洋应用中因其能够从海洋中获取能量而受到广泛关注，因为海洋环境具有强大而有力的波浪和水流，是一个恶劣的环境。然而，据作者所知，尽管有各种用于海洋应用的压电能量收集器的设计，但压电材料尚未用于海洋环境中的传感和测量应用。在本研究中，提出了一种基于浮标式的压电传感器来测量海洋波的高度和周期。为了分析基于浮标式的压电传感器的运动原理和工作性能，开发了一个动力学模型。所开发的动力学模型研究了系统对输入海洋波的响应，并为几何和材料参数的设计提供了思路。接下来，使用商业软件 COMSOL-Multiphysics 进行了有限元分析 (FEA) 模拟，借助于固体力学和静电模块的耦合物理分析来实现输出电压。制造并测试了一个实验原型，以验证动力学模型和 FEA 模拟的结果。在整个实验过程中，使用曲柄滑块机构来模拟海洋波，结果表明，提出的动力学建模、FEA 模拟和实验测试之间具有很好的一致性。最后，对输出结果进行了解释，对模拟结果与实验测试结果、传感器的分辨率以及所提出的基于浮标式的压电传感器的自供电功能进行了比较。
