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Laminated piezocomposite energy harvesters (LAPEHs) are multilayer arrangements of piezoelectric and nonpiezoelectric materials. Multiple materials and physics, and dynamic analysis need to be considered in their design. Usually these devices are designed for harmonic excitation; however, they are subjected to other types of excitations. Thus, a novel topology optimization formulation is developed for designing LAPEHs that considers a combination of harmonic and transient optimization problems with the aim of designing the so-called "multi-entry" devices in which the power generated is the same for different types of excitation. LAPEHs are modeled by the finite element method, and the material model used for the piezoelectric layer is based on penalization and polarization model who controls material distribution and corresponding polarization. To optimize the RLC circuit, a novel linear interpolation model of coupled electrical impedance is also introduced to consider different magnitudes of the coupled impedance. The topology optimization problem seeks to maximize the active power generated by the LAPEH at its RLC circuit, to minimize its response time measured as the slope of the power versus time curve, and to maximize its stiffness. Numerical examples are shown to illustrate the potential of the method.

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This paper describes a design methodology for piezoelectric energy harvesters that thinly encapsulate the mechanical devices and exploit resonances from higher-order vibrational modes. The direction of polarization determines the sign of the piezoelectric tensor to avoid cancellations of electric fields from opposite polarizations in the same circuit. The resultant modified equations of state are solved by finite element method (FEM). Combining this method with the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method for piezoelectric material, we have developed an optimization methodology that optimizes the piezoelectric material layout and polarization direction. Updating the density function of the SIMP method is performed based on sensitivity analysis, the sequential linear programming on the early stage of the optimization, and the phase field method on the latter stage of the optimization to obtain clear optimal shapes without intermediate density. Numerical examples are provided that illustrate the validity and utility of the proposed method.