Flutter Fin
A rendering of the facade system implemented at the building scale
Jin Young Song's louvered facade design prototype harnesses electrical energy from vibrating motion from the building envelope.
In this study, Song integrated buckling-induced pattern transformation with energy harvesting mechanism using piezo layers to enhance the power density of piezoelectric energy-harvesting devices and apply the devices to design a wind-energy-harvesting building envelope.
"Pattern Change," a photo illustration of Jin Young Song's electricity-harnessing facade system.
Due to its nonlinear dynamic characteristics, the proposed piezoelectric configuration harnessing instability will provide larger electrical power than conventional configurations over a wide range of frequencies. Furthermore, the pattern-transformation employed in the proposed configuration will amplify electrical power to be generated from the piezoelectric materials. The spandrel units in the typical curtain wall applications for the building envelope can be utilized as an energy harvesting device, which can be plugged into phase changing glasses, dynamic shading devices, and environmental sensors.
