Estimation of Electric Charge Output for Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

Abstract

Piezoelectric materials (PZT) can be used as mechanisms to transfer mechanical energy, usually ambient vibration, into electrical energy that can be stored and used to power other devices. With the recent advances in wireless and micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) technology, sensors can be placed in exotic and remote locations. As these devices are wireless it becomes necessary that they have their own power supply. The power supply in most cases is the conventional battery; however, problems can occur when using batteries because of their finite life span. Because most sensors are being developed so that they can be placed in remote locations such as structural sensors on a bridge or global positioning service (GPS) tracking devices on animals in the wild, obtaining the sensor simply to replace the battery can become a very expensive task. Furthermore, in the case of sensors located on civil structures, it is often advantageous to embed them, making access impossible. Therefore, if a method of obtaining the untapped energy surrounding these sensors was implemented, significant life could be added to the power supply. One method is to use PZT materials to obtain ambient energy surrounding the test specimen. This captured energy could then be used to prolong the power supply or in the ideal case provide endless energy for the sensors lifespan. The goal of this study is to develop a model of the PZT power harvesting device. This model would simplify the design procedure necessary for determining the appropriate size and vibration levels necessary for sufficient energy to be produced and supplied to the electronic devices. An experimental verification of the model is also performed to ensure its accuracy.

Energy harvesting vibration sources for microsystems applications

“…Piezoelectric cantilever generators have also been investigated by Sodano et al [60]. An alternative mathematical analysis uses energy methods to arrive at the constitutive equations of a cantilever PZT bimorph similar to that shown in figure 8 but with no mass and the PZT not extending to the end of the beam.…”

Numerical Modeling of Flow-Driven Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Devices

“…Energy harvesting from piezoelectric materials have gained significant attention, as is evident from the number of literature published every year in this field, due to their ability to convert mechanical energy from cyclic straining directly into useful electrical energy. For reviews on various forms of piezoelectric energy harvesting refer to [1,2].…”

Vibration energy harvesting using piezoelectric transducer and non-controlled rectifiers circuits

“…mobiles, portable electronics or wireless sensors networks (Sodano et al, 2004b;Pereyma, 2007;Anton and Sodano, 2007). These examples represent a huge potential for commercial applications in different areas as presented in recent market researches (IDTechEx, 2010).…”

“…An important stage to develop a practical design in an energy harvesting device is to model correctly the dynamical behavior of the integrated system composed of mechanical structure, in general a clamped beam, electromechanical coupling between the PZTs and the mechanical system, and, finally, the electrical load attached to the device (Sodano et al, 2004a). However, the multidisciplinary nature of this field has caused some modeling problems.…”

“…The authors clarified through improved models with lumped and distributed parameters, besides presenting a good overview of the numerical and analytical modeling of electromechanical systems for power harvesting. The spotlight in this strand of papers about piezoelectric energy harvesting models, as for example Sodano et al (2004a), Liao and Sodano (2008), De Marqui Jr. et al (2009, is to study the maximum power that can be dissipated in a simple resistor or combination of linear electrical elements. The most part of these models focused on simplifying the energy harvesting circuit by a simple resistive load, but in the real-world applications, the energy harvesting circuit attached is more complex than a simple resistor.…”