A piezoelectric energy harvester for the intelligent self-sufficient spherical detector application

This paper proposes a novel design of a piezoelectric energy harvester for the Spherical Detector (SD) in pipelines. The harvester converts the rotating mechanical energy into electrical energy and develops an intelligent self-sufficient SD to break the limits of traditional SD application distances. A dynamic model suitable for design is derived through the Euler-Lagrange method and the design process is introduced in detail. The rotational motion frequency is measured by a pipeline test with a MEMS triaxial accelerometer. An experimental platform with Macro Fiber Composite is built. After load optimization, 27.64 mW is obtained at 2.4 Hz. The results demonstrate that the proposed piezoelectric energy harvester has the potential to establish an intelligent self-sufficient spherical detector.