Device for harvesting energy from a fluidic flow including a thin film of piezoelectric material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10153713-B2
Application number	US-201515303102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2015
Priority date	Apr 11, 2014
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

A device for harvesting energy from a fluidic flow, including a flexible structure formed by: a base layer; a conductive layer, made of a conductive material and laid on the base layer; and a piezoelectric layer, made of a piezoelectric material and laid on the conductive layer. The base layer, the conductive layer, and the piezoelectric layer form a crystalline structure including a plurality of pseudomorphic portions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising a first device for harvesting energy from a fluidic flow, said first energy-harvesting device comprising a flexible structure including:
a base layer;
a first conductive layer, made of a first conductive material and arranged on top of the base layer; and
a first piezoelectric layer, made of a first piezoelectric material and arranged on top of the first conductive layer; and
wherein the base layer, the first conductive layer, and the first piezoelectric layer form a crystalline structure including a plurality of pseudomorphic portions;
a flexible layer, configured to be put in oscillation by the fluidic flow, the base layer being arranged on top of the flexible layer;
a first vortex-generating element mechanically coupled to said first energy-harvesting device and configured to generate, in the presence of the fluidic flow, a vortex that interacts with at least part of the flexible layer;
a second energy-harvesting device and a second vortex-generating element, which is mechanically coupled to the second energy-harvesting device,
wherein the first and second vortex-generating elements are arranged specularly with respect to an axis, and the first and second energy-harvesting devices are arranged specularly with respect to the axis;
wherein each of the first and second vortex-generating elements is delimited in part by a respective first portion of side wall and by a respective second portion of side wall, which are inclined with respect to one another and are connected, to form an edge arranged orthogonally with respect to the axis, said respective first portion of side wall being parallel to the axis; and
wherein the flexible layers of the first and second energy-harvesting devices are fixed, respectively, to the first portion of side wall of the first vortex-generating element and to the first portion of side wall of the second vortex-generating element.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein each pseudomorphic portion has a columnar shape and includes a first interface and a second interface.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first piezoelectric layer has a thickness comprised between 300 nm and 1.4 μm.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first piezoelectric layer forms a first main surface, which in top plan view has a shape without vertices.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the base layer has a thickness comprised between 15 nm and 500 nm.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first energy-harvesting device further comprises: a second conductive layer, arranged on top of the first piezoelectric layer, a second piezoelectric layer, arranged on top of the second conductive layer, and a third conductive layer, arranged on top of the second piezoelectric layer.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible layer is made of a polymeric material.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible layer has a thickness comprised between 5 μm and 50 μm.

9. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a rigid supporting element, a portion of the flexible layer being fixed to the rigid supporting element; and wherein the first piezoelectric layer extends in cantilever fashion with respect to the rigid supporting element.

10. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a container, the first energy-harvesting device and the first vortex-generating element being arranged within the container, which is configured to receive the fluidic flow and to channel the fluidic flow onto the first vortex-generating element.

Assignees

• Fondazione St Italiano Tecnologia
• Fondzione St Italiano Di Tecnologia

Inventors

• Petroni Simona
• Rizzi Francesco
• Guido Francesco
• De Vittorio Massimo

Classifications

• H02N2/185 Primary

  using fluid streams · CPC title

• H01L41/0815

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L41/047

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L41/1136

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10N30/306

  Cantilevers · CPC title