Design, Analysis, and Experimental Studies of a Novel PVDF-Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvester With Beating Mechanisms

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuo-Shen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Frequency ◽  
Energy Harvester ◽  
Piezoelectric Materials ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
Low Frequency Vibration ◽  
High Efficient ◽  
The Future

Wireless sensor networks become increasingly important in modern life for structural health monitoring and other related applications. In these applications, due to their overall sensor populations and possible covered measurement areas, the replacement of batteries becomes a difficult and unrealistic task. As a result, energy harvesters to convert environment wasted vibration energy into electricity for powering those sensor nodes become important and many miniaturized device have been realized by using MEMS technology. In order to achieve optimal performance, the energy harvester must be operated at the resonance frequency. However, the vibration frequencies of environmental vibrations are usually much less than that of those miniaturizing energy harvesters and this fact could be a major barrier for energy harvesting performance. In this paper, a new piezoelectric energy scavenging concept is proposed and demonstrated to convert environmental vibrations into electricity. Unlike previous MEMS-based piezoelectric energy harvesters, which suffer from matching between environmental low frequency vibration and the much higher system natural frequency, this work proposes a novel beating design using polymer piezoelectric materials in collaborating with a beating mechanism. That is, by creating impact force via the low frequency vibration motion from the mechanism, it is possible to excite system natural frequency by the low frequency environmental vibrations and it is possible to operate the entire system at the natural frequency. This work contains details in presenting this idea, designing piezoelectric harvester systems with flexible PVDF elements, exploring their vibration characteristics, and energy accumulating strategies by using a capacitor with a full-bridged rectifiers or a boost conversion. By experimental characterization, the overall harvesting efficiency of the proposed design is much greater than that from the design without the beating mechanism. It indicates that the efficiency is significantly improved and the proposed translational design could potentially improve the future design approach for piezoelectric energy harvesters significantly. In summary, this preliminary study shows that it is a feasible scheme for the application of piezoelectric materials in harvesting electricity from environmental vibrations. Although this work is still in its initial phase, the results and conclusions of this work are still invaluable for guiding the development of high efficient piezoelectric harvesters in the future.

Heartbeat Energy Harvesting Using the Fan-Folded Piezoelectric Beam Geometry

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Ansari ◽  
M. Amin Karami
Keyword(s):  
Natural Frequency ◽  
Energy Harvester ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Mode Shapes ◽  
Vibration Energy ◽  
Vibration Energy Harvester ◽  
Mechanical Coupling ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
Piezoelectric Beam

A three dimensional piezoelectric vibration energy harvester is designed to generate electricity from heartbeat vibrations. The device consists of several bimorph piezoelectric beams stacked on top of each other. These horizontal bimorph beams are connected to each other by rigid vertical beams making a fan-folded geometry. One end of the design is clamped and the other end is free. One major problem in micro-scale piezoelectric energy harvesters is their high natural frequency. The same challenge is faced in development of a compact vibration energy harvester for the low frequency heartbeat vibrations. One way to decrease the natural frequency is to increase the length of the bimorph beam. This approach is not usually practical due to size limitations. By utilizing the fan-folded geometry, the natural frequency is decreased while the size constraints are observed. The required size limit of the energy harvester is 1 cm by 1 cm by 1 cm. In this paper, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of fan-folded energy harvesters are analytically derived. The electro-mechanical coupling has been included in the model for the piezoelectric beam. The design criteria for the device are discussed.

Design Optimization of Low Power and Low Frequency Vibration Based MEMS Energy Harvester

2013 ◽  
Vol 475-476 ◽  
pp. 1624-1628
Author(s):  
Hasnizah Aris ◽  
David Fitrio ◽  
Jack Singh
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
Energy Harvester ◽  
Piezoelectric Materials ◽  
Geometry Optimization ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Substrate Thickness ◽  
Power Harvesting ◽  
Low Frequency Vibration ◽  
Length Width ◽  
Development And Utilization

The development and utilization of different structural materials, optimization of the cantilever geometry and power harvesting circuit are the most commonly methods used to increase the power density of MEMS energy harvester. This paper discusses the cantilever geometry optimization process of low power and low frequency of bimorph MEMS energy harvester. Three piezoelectric materials, ZnO, AlN and PZT are deposited on top and bottom of the cantilever Si substrate. This study focuses on the optimization of the cantilevers length, width, substrate thickness and PZe thickness in order to achieve lower than 600 Hz of resonant frequency. The harvested power for this work is in the range of 0.02 ~ 194.49 nW.

A Novel Multi-Directional Nonlinear Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Coupled With Nonlinear Conditioning Circuits

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengbao Yang ◽  
Jean Zu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvester ◽  
Piezoelectric Materials ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Elastic Rods ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
High Power Output ◽  
Transduction Mechanisms ◽  
Self Powered ◽  
Aluminum Plates

Energy harvesting from vibrations has become, in recent years, a recurring target of a quantity of research to achieve self-powered operation of low-power electronic devices. However, most of energy harvesters developed to date, regardless of different transduction mechanisms and various structures, are designed to capture vibration energy from single predetermined direction. To overcome the problem of the unidirectional sensitivity, we proposed a novel multi-directional nonlinear energy harvester using piezoelectric materials. The harvester consists of a flexural center (one PZT plate sandwiched by two bow-shaped aluminum plates) and a pair of elastic rods. Base vibration is amplified and transferred to the flexural center by the elastic rods and then converted to electrical energy via the piezoelectric effect. A prototype was fabricated and experimentally compared with traditional cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvester. Following that, a nonlinear conditioning circuit (self-powered SSHI) was analyzed and adopted to improve the performance. Experimental results shows that the proposed energy harvester has the capability of generating power constantly when the excitation direction is changed in 360. It also exhibits a wide frequency bandwidth and a high power output which is further improved by the nonlinear circuit.

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

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 2770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Izadgoshasb ◽  
Yee Lim ◽  
Ricardo Vasquez Padilla ◽  
Mohammadreza Sedighi ◽  
Jeremy Novak
Keyword(s):  
Cantilever Beam ◽  
Performance Enhancement ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Vibration Source ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
Low Frequency Vibration ◽  
External Power Source

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.

scholarly journals A Review on Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting: Materials, Methods, and Circuits

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shashank Priya ◽  
Hyun-Cheol Song ◽  
Yuan Zhou ◽  
Ronnie Varghese ◽  
Anuj Chopra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Power Management ◽  
Energy Harvester ◽  
Piezoelectric Materials ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting ◽  
Wide Bandwidth ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
Continuous Power

Abstract Piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems (PiezoMEMS) are attractive for developing next generation self-powered microsystems. PiezoMEMS promises to eliminate the costly assembly for microsensors/microsystems and provide various mechanisms for recharging the batteries, thereby, moving us closer towards batteryless wireless sensors systems and networks. In order to achieve practical implementation of this technology, a fully assembled energy harvester on the order of a quarter size dollar coin (diameter=24.26 mm, thickness=1.75 mm) should be able to generate about 100 μW continuous power from low frequency ambient vibrations (below 100 Hz). This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in microscale piezoelectric energy harvesting, summarizing key metrics such as power density and bandwidth of reported structures at low frequency input. This paper also describes the recent advancements in piezoelectric materials and resonator structures. Epitaxial growth and grain texturing of piezoelectric materials is being developed to achieve much higher energy conversion efficiency. For embedded medical systems, lead-free piezoelectric thin films are being developed and MEMS processes for these new classes of materials are being investigated. Non-linear resonating beams for wide bandwidth resonance are also reviewed as they would enable wide bandwidth and low frequency operation of energy harvesters. Particle/granule spray deposition techniques such as aerosol-deposition (AD) and granule spray in vacuum (GSV) are being matured to realize the meso-scale structures in a rapid manner. Another important element of an energy harvester is a power management circuit, which should maximize the net energy harvested. Towards this objective, it is essential for the power management circuit of a small-scale energy harvester to dissipate minimal power, and thus it requires special circuit design techniques and a simple maximum power point tracking scheme. Overall, the progress made by the research and industrial community has brought the energy harvesting technology closer to the practical applications in near future.

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