Over the past decade, ZnO as an important II-VI semiconductor has attracted much attention within the scientific community over the world owing to its numerous unique and prosperous properties. This material, considered as a “future material”, especially in nanostructural format, has aroused many interesting research works due to its large range of applications in electronics, photonics, acoustics, energy and sensing. The bio-compatibility, piezoelectricity & low cost fabrication make ZnO nanostructure a very promising material for energy harvesting.

The transformation of vibrations into electric energy through the use of piezoelectric devices is an exciting and rapidly developing area of research with a widening range of applications constantly materialising. With Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting, world-leading researchers provide a timely and comprehensive coverage of the electromechanical modelling and applications of piezoelectric energy harvesters. They present principal modelling approaches, synthesizing fundamental material related to mechanical, aerospace, civil, electrical and materials engineering disciplines for vibration-based energy harvesting using piezoelectric transduction. Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting provides the first comprehensive treatment of distributed-parameter electromechanical modelling for piezoelectric energy harvesting with extensive case studies including experimental validations, and is the first book to address modelling of various forms of excitation in piezoelectric energy harvesting, ranging from airflow excitation to moving loads, thus ensuring its relevance to engineers in fields as disparate as aerospace engineering and civil engineering. Coverage includes: Analytical and approximate analytical distributed-parameter electromechanical models with illustrative theoretical case studies as well as extensive experimental validations Several problems of piezoelectric energy harvesting ranging from simple harmonic excitation to random vibrations Details of introducing and modelling piezoelectric coupling for various problems Modelling and exploiting nonlinear dynamics for performance enhancement, supported with experimental verifications Applications ranging from moving load excitation of slender bridges to airflow excitation of aeroelastic sections A review of standard nonlinear energy harvesting circuits with modelling aspects.

Seeking renewable and clean energies is essential for releasing the heavy reliance on mineral-based energy and remedying the threat of global warming to our environment. In the last decade, explosive growth in research and development efforts devoted to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology and nanowires-related nanotechnology have paved a great foundation for new mechanisms of harvesting mechanical energy at the micro/nano-meter scale. MEMS-based inertial sensors have been the enabler for numerous applications associated with smart phones, tablets, and mobile electronics. This is a valuable reference for all those faced with the challenging problems created by the ever-increasing interest in MEMS and nanotechnology-based energy harvesters and their applications. This book presents fundamental physics, theoretical design, and method of modeling for four mainstream energy harvesting mechanisms -- piezoelectric, electromagnetic, electrostatic, and triboelectric. Readers are provided with a comprehensive technical review and historical view of each mechanism. The authors also present current challenges in energy harvesting technology, technical reviews, design requirements, case studies, along with unique and representative examples of energy harvester applications.

Current developments in the renewable energy field, and the trend toward self-production and self-consumption of energy, has led to increased interest in the means of storing electrical energy; a key element of sustainable development. This book provides an in-depth view of the environmentally responsible energy solutions currently available for use in the building sector. It highlights the importance of storing electrical energy, demonstrates the many services that the storage of electrical energy can bring, and discusses the important socio-economic factors related to the emergence of smart buildings and smart grids. Finally, it presents the methodological tools needed to build a system of storage-based energy management, illustrated by concrete, pedagogic examples.

Wind energy conversion systems are subject to many different types of faults and therefore fault detection is highly important to ensure reliability and safety. Monitoring systems can help to detect faults before they result in downtime. This book presents efficient methods used to detect electrical and mechanical faults based on electrical signals occurring in the different components of a wind energy conversion system. For example, in a small and high power synchronous generator and multi-phase generator, in the diode bridge rectifier, the gearbox and the sensors. This book also presents a method for keeping the frequency and voltage of the power grid within an allowable range while ensuring the continuity of power supply in the event of a grid fault. Electrical and Mechanical Fault Diagnosis in Wind Energy Conversion Systems presents original results obtained from a variety of research. It will not only be useful as a guideline for the conception of more robust wind turbines systems, but also for engineers monitoring wind turbines and researchers

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It has a place in the energy mix of the future, especially regarding fuel cells (FCs). This book is an investigation into FCs. Prominence is given to the subject of PEMFCs (proton exchange membrane fuel cells) as they offer interesting perspectives on transport and stationary applications. This being said, a number of technological and scientific obstacles remain to be overcome before an industrial level of development can be reached.

Gas hydrates in their natural environment and for potential industrial applications (Volume 2).