Low frequency acoustic energy harvesting using PZT piezoelectric plates in a straight tube resonator

Abstract

A novel and practical acoustic energy harvesting mechanism to harvest traveling sound at low audible frequency is introduced and studied both experimentally and numerically. The acoustic energy harvester in this study contains a quarter-wavelength straight tube resonator with lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric cantilever plates placed inside the tube. When the tube resonator is excited by an incident sound at its acoustic resonance frequency, the amplified acoustic pressure inside the tube drives the vibration motions of piezoelectric plates, resulting in the generation of electricity. To increase the total voltage and power, multiple PZT plates were placed inside the tube. The number of PZT plates to maximize the voltage and power is limited due to the interruption of air particle motion by the plates. It has been found to be more beneficial to place the piezoelectric plates in the first half of the tube rather than along the entire tube. With an incident sound pressure level of 100 dB, an output voltage of 5.089 V was measured. The output voltage increases linearly with the incident sound pressure. With an incident sound pressure of 110 dB, an output voltage of 15.689 V and a power of 12.697 mW were obtained. The corresponding areal and volume power densities are 0.635 mW cm −2 and 15.115 µW cm −3 , respectively.

Recent Progress on PZT Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Technologies

“…The acoustic piezoelectric energy harvester contained a quarter-wavelength straight tube resonator with the PZT piezoelectric cantilever placed inside the tube. The maximum output power of 12.697 mW was generated in an incident sound pressure of 110 dB [37].…”

Enhanced output power by eigenfrequency shift in acoustic energy harvester

“…The longitudinal particle velocity u(x) and pressure at the first eigenmode of the duct are represented as sinusoidal functions as [4] …”

“…Recently, we have introduced an acoustic energy harvester which uses multiple PZT and PVDF piezoelectric cantilevers placed inside a quarter-wavelength resonator to scavenge low frequency acoustic energy [4][5]. The eigenfrequencies of quarter-wavelength resonators gradually decrease when the piezoelectric cantilevers are installed inside the resonators.…”

Piezoelectric model of rainfall energy harvester

“…The basic idea is to convert the mechanical energy of vibration or pressure into electrical energy. Different scenarios have been considered: in [6] a study on the harvested energy from vibrating shoe-mounted piezoelectric cantilevers is presented; in [8] the energy harvesting from the vibrations of bridges is faced; in [8] the harvesting of energy induced from the deformation of pavements due to moving vehicles is analyzed; in [9] the harvesting from automotive tires is discussed; in [10] a harvesting from seismic mass is presented and also an optimization is discussed; in [11] an innovative piezoelectric grass energy harvester is proposed; in [12] the energy harvesting from low frequencies travelling sound is presented, in [13] the wind energy harvesting is studied. Also the rainfall energy harvest has been faced [14][15][16][17].…”