Performance Enhancement of a Multiresonant Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for Low Frequency Vibrations

Abstract

Harvesting electricity from low frequency vibration sources such as human motions using piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEH) is attracting the attention of many researchers in recent years. The energy harvested can potentially power portable electronic devices as well as some medical devices without the need of an external power source. For this purpose, the piezoelectric patch is often mechanically attached to a cantilever beam, such that the resonance frequency is predominantly governed by the cantilever beam. To increase the power generated from vibration sources with varying frequency, a multiresonant PEH (MRPEH) is often used. In this study, an attempt is made to enhance the performance of MRPEH with the use of a cantilever beam of optimised shape, i.e., a cantilever beam with two triangular branches. The performance is further enhanced through optimising the design of the proposed MRPEH to suit the frequency range of the targeted vibration source. A series of parametric studies were first carried out using finite-element analysis to provide in-depth understanding of the effect of each design parameters on the power output at a low frequency vibration. Selected outcomes were then experimentally verified. An optimised design was finally proposed. The results demonstrate that, with the use of a properly designed MRPEH, broadband energy harvesting is achievable and the efficiency of the PEH system can be significantly increased.

An Improved Self-Powered H-Bridge Circuit for Voltage Rectification of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System

“…Apart from the material itself [9], the research and development of a piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) system encompass three main aspects, namely, mechanical system [10], electronic circuit and storage device. A flow chart summarising the main function of these aspects in the PEH process is shown in Fig.…”

Modeling and Piezoelectric Analysis of Nano Energy Harvesters

“…On the other hand, chemical methods are low cost and easy to fabricate with less percentage of reproducibility. Sufficient energy harvesting power is required to operate medical, microfluidics, and small-scale power devices [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. By using directional piezoelectric energy, the harvester is more suitable for such applications [ 27 ].…”

Modelling of Electromagnetic Energy Harvester with Rotational Pendulum Using Mechanical Vibrations to Scavenge Electrical Energy

“…That is why energy harvesting systems with non-linear behavior are researched [15][16][17][18][19][20]. The main advantages of non-linearities introduced to the system are the possibilities to modify the resonance behavior [21,22], to obtain good off-resonance performance [23][24][25] or to attain multi-resonance [26].…”