An Experiment on Energy Harvesting for Aircraft Instrumentation

Abstract

Sensor installation for flight test instrumentation is a difficult process because the sensors must be wired to a central power unit. A small power source for transducers would make the installation process more efficient. This paper investigates the power output of a piezoelectric energy harvester. An experiment was conducted using a piezoelectric diaphragm connected to a full-wave bridge rectifier. The circuit is analyzed and experimental results are presented. The results are analyzed to determine if the output power is sufficient to supply a small transducer.