Ferrohydrodynamic energy harvesting based on air droplet movement

• Ferrohydrodynamics and magnetorheological effects of nanofluid for generating energy from a ferrohydrodynamic platform by simple air droplet movement were investigated.
• A physical model for the ferrohydrodynamic energy harvesting system proposes the interrelation among the buoyancy, interfacial tension, drag, and electromotive yield forces.
• The ferrohydrodynamic system yields voltage and current in a controlled manner depending the magnetorheological effect of a nanofluid.
• The characteristic mechanism of one single up- and down peak during the energy generation was successfully investigated via numerical simulation.

A ferrohydrodynamic energy harvesting system based on magnetorheology was investigated. A physical model was introduced to understand the ferrohydrodynamic system with four interactive forces including buoyancy, interfacial tension, drag, and electromotive yield forces. The magnetic flux density increases with increase in the magnetic field strength, while the rate of change of the magnetic flux density decreases with increase in the yield stress due to retardation of the air droplet motion. A numerical simulation was performed to understand the fundamental mechanism, especially one single up-and-down peak. The results show that the air droplet motion in the magnetic field determines the characteristics of the harvested energy by disturbing the magnetic flux density. The output voltage and current are generated according to Faraday׳s law of induction.

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