A Novel Non-Intrusive Vibration Energy Harvesting Method for Air Conditioning Compressor Unit

Chuan Choong Yang, Noor Fiqri Razqi Bin Noor Hanafi, Noor Hazrin Hany Bt Mohamad Hanif, Ahmad Faris Ismail and Hsueh-Hsien Chang
Additional contact information
Chuan Choong Yang: Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, Kuala Lumpur 50728, Malaysia
Noor Fiqri Razqi Bin Noor Hanafi: Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, Kuala Lumpur 50728, Malaysia
Noor Hazrin Hany Bt Mohamad Hanif: Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, Kuala Lumpur 50728, Malaysia
Ahmad Faris Ismail: Office of the Deputy Rector (Academic and Internationalisation), International Islamic University Malaysia P.O. Box 10, Kuala Lumpur 50728, Malaysia
Hsueh-Hsien Chang: Department of Computer and Communication, Jinwen University of Science and Technology, New Taipei 23154, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-21

Abstract: The purpose of harvesting vibration energy is to obtain clean and sustainable energy by converting vibration energy from ambient sources into a voltage output. In this work, a piezoelectric sensor, PZT-5H is attached to a 3D printed and custom-made mounting to be placed at an air conditioning condenser unit, to harvest vibration energy. The configuration of the harvester is non-intrusive, in which the harvester did not intrude into compressor unit operation. Temperature (20 °C, 22 °C, and 24 °C) and air volume flow rates (3 levels of air volume flow rate at 245 L/second, 274 L/second, and 297 L/second) were taken into consideration in this investigation. An accelerometer was first used to investigate the optimum vibration frequency in Hertz, and six locations were identified. Next, the piezoelectric sensor was mounted at these six locations, and the output root-mean-square (RMS) voltage from the piezoelectric sensor was obtained. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that temperature and air volume flow rates factors were significant. It was found that the location identified with the highest amount of vibration at 830.2 Hz from accelerometer measurement, was also the highest amount of RMS voltage, at 510.82 mV, harvested by the piezoelectric, from the temperature of 20 °C and air volume flow rates at high level (air flow volume flow rate at 297 L/second). From this work, it is feasible to utilize this novel method of harvesting waste vibration energy from the air conditioning compressor unit.

Keywords: energy harvesting; vibration energy; piezoelectric sensor; sustainable energy; air conditioning compressor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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