Enhancing wind energy harvesting performance through staggered dual cylinders inspired by migrant bird lift sharing effect

Abstract

In nature, migratory birds often use a V-shaped queue during their flights. Bird at the back of the queue benefit from the lift sharing effect, saving energy during flight. Inspired by this, we design a staggered dual-cylinder energy harvester and conduct comprehensive wind tunnel experiments to explore its performance. Experimental results reveal that the dual cylinder system achieved a peak voltage of 7.8 V–32.9 V compared to 6.8 V for a single cylinder, with a maximum enhancement factor of 4.8 at wind speeds of 1–7 m/s. Numerical simulations are further utilized to analyze the aerodynamic mechanism behind the lift-sharing effect. The results show that energy output strongly correlates with wake vortex strength and influenced width. This work offers ideas for designing piezoelectric wind energy harvesters based on the lift sharing effect.