Smart Control of the Multirotor Drone Propeller for Enhanced Vibration Energy Harvesting

This paper describes the technique of converting the multirotor drone propeller kinetic energy into electrical energy using piezoelectric industrial made components. The simulation and practical investigations of the novel energy harvester propeller structure and its control (with two industrially made piezoelectric elements which are located inside a single industrial made propeller) has been examined at different propeller rotational speeds. A novel propeller control technique for increasing electric energy production is being investigated using the smart drone motor control for enhanced propeller vibration and its energy harvesting performance. The proposed technique of the energy production for the multirotor drone operation is based on the drone propeller vibrations and aims to demonstrate that each propeller can harvest its own kinetic energy and convert it into the electrical energy which can be stored or used for different applications while the propellers are rotating. An attempt to model the energy production mechanism using SolidWorks and Creo pro engineer software is also made, examining the multirotor drone propellers at different operational conditions. All propeller simulations and practical tests were conducted under indoor laboratory conditions with suitable instrumentation. Analysis of the propeller vibration performance is presented via graphical representation of simulated and experimental results, to demonstrate that it is practically possible to recover the harvested energy from the vibrated propeller while the propeller is rotating. Consideration is given to using industrially made piezoelectric components for increasing the energy production mechanism in such concept. Photographic evidence of the test unit and setup of the propeller operation modes are presented and discussed together with experimental results to validate the theoretical concept via practical experimentation.