Multimodal pizza-shaped piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvesters

Author(s):  
Virgilio J Caetano ◽  
Marcelo A Savi

Energy harvesting from ambient vibration through piezoelectric devices has received a lot of attention in recent years from both academia and industry. One of the main challenges is to develop devices capable of adapting to diverse sources of environmental excitation, being able to efficiently operate over a broadband frequency spectrum. This work proposes a novel multimodal design of a piezoelectric energy harvesting system to harness energy from a wideband ambient vibration source. Circular-shaped and pizza-shaped designs are employed as candidates for the device, comparing their performance with classical beam-shaped devices. Finite element analysis is employed to model system dynamics using ANSYS Workbench. An optimization procedure is applied to the system aiming to seek a configuration that can extract energy from a broader frequency spectrum and maximize its output power. A comparative analysis with conventional energy harvesting systems is performed. Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the harvester performances under harmonic and random excitations. Results show that the proposed multimodal harvester has potential to harness energy from broadband ambient vibration sources presenting performance advantages in comparison to conventional single-mode energy harvesters.

Author(s):  
Saman Farhangdoust ◽  
Gary Georgeson ◽  
Jeong-Beom Ihn ◽  
Armin Mehrabi

Abstract These days, piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) is introduced as one of the clean and renewable energy sources for powering the self-powered sensors utilized for wireless condition monitoring of structures. However, low efficiency is the biggest drawback of the PEHs. This paper introduces an innovative embedded metamaterial subframe (MetaSub) patch as a practical solution to address the low throughput limitation of conventional PEHs whose host structure has already been constructed or installed. To evaluate the performance of the embedded MetaSub patch (EMSP), a cantilever beam is considered as the host structure in this study. The EMSP transfers the auxetic behavior to the piezoelectric element (PZT) wherever substituting a regular beam with an auxetic beam is either impracticable or suboptimal. The concept of the EMSP is numerically validated, and the COMSOL Multiphysics software was employed to investigate its performance when a cantilever beam is subjected to different amplitude and frequency. The FEM results demonstrate that the harvesting power in cases that use the EMSP can be amplified up to 5.5 times compared to a piezoelectric cantilever energy harvester without patch. This paper opens up a great potential of using EMSP for different types of energy harvesting systems in biomedical, acoustics, civil, electrical, aerospace, and mechanical engineering applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (s1) ◽  
pp. 57-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Bradai ◽  
Slim Naifar ◽  
Olfa Kanoun

AbstractHarvesting energy from ambient vibration sources is challenging due to its low characteristic amplitude and frequencies. In this purpose, this work presents a compact hybrid vibration converter based on electromagnetic and magnetoelectric principles working for a frequency bandwidth and under real vibration source properties. The combination of especially these two principles is mainly due to the fact that both converters can use the same changes of the magnetic field for energy harvesting. The converter was investigated using finite element analysis and validated experimentally. Results have shown that a frequency bandwidth up to 12 Hz with a characteristic resonant frequency at 24 Hz and a power density of 0.11mW/cm3 can be reached.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 2770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Izadgoshasb ◽  
Yee Lim ◽  
Ricardo Vasquez Padilla ◽  
Mohammadreza Sedighi ◽  
Jeremy Novak

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.


2008 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 164-169
Author(s):  
Jeff T. Scruggs

There has been a growing interest in the generation and storage of power from ambient vibration using piezoelectric transduction. It is well-known that by connecting a piezoelectric energy harvester to a power-electronic switching network, proper switching control can yield favorable energy transduction. It has also been shown that in broadband response, the switching controller maximizing power flow to storage can be solved as an H2 optimal control problem. For extremely small-scale applications, however, the background power necessary to keep a controller online continuously may exceed the average harvested power. In such circumstances, it is necessary to restrict feedback controllers to a class which can be realized with very little power. This paper investigates the use of passive networks to impose transducer voltage feedback laws on energy harvesting systems. Such an implementation requires external power only to gate one mosfet in the power-electronic drive circuitry at a constant duty cycle. The optimization of the passive network for optimal power generation is a challenging, nonconvex problem. This paper presents some preliminary results on a sub-optimal LMI-based design approach for this problem. An example is given for a stochastically-excited piezoelectric bimorph beam.


2012 ◽  
Vol 220-223 ◽  
pp. 943-946
Author(s):  
Kang Qi Fan ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Hai Dong Huo

Harvesting energy from the environment has been widely investigated to power and maintain low-power devices. This paper reviews the potential energy sources, piezoelectric conversion mechanism, recently proposed piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEH), and micropower management circuits. It can be concluded that the output power of PEH is still comparatively small, especially when the ambient excitation frequencies deviate from PEH’s resonant frequency. Future work should focus on tuning or widening the operate frequency of PEH so that it can match the ambient vibration frequency at all time. Moreover, flow energy harvesting techniques compatible with MEMS techniques demand in-depth study to facilitate the fabrication of micro PEHs.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doaa Al-Yafeai ◽  
Tariq Darabseh ◽  
Abdel-Hamid I. Mourad

One of the most important techniques for energy harvesting is the clean energy collection from the ambient vibration. Piezoelectric energy harvesting systems became a hot topic in the literature and attracted most researchers. The reason behind this attraction is that piezoelectric materials are a simple structure and provide a higher power density among other mechanisms (electromagnetic and electrostatic). The aim of this manuscript is to succinctly review and present the state of the art of different existing vibrational applications utilizing piezoelectric energy harvesting technique. Meanwhile, the main concentration is harvesting energy from a vehicle suspension system. There is a significant amount of dissipated energy from the suspension dampers that is worthy of being harvested. Different mathematical car models with their experimental setup are presented, discussed, and compared. The piezoelectric material can be mounted in different locations such as suspension springs, dampers, and tires. The technique of implementing the harvester and the amount of power harvested from each location are analyzed. The evaluation of the electrical harvesting circuits and different storage devices for the harvested power are also discussed. The paper will also shed light on the variety of potential applications of the harvested energy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sungryong Bae ◽  
Pilkee Kim

In this study, optimization of the external load resistance of a piezoelectric bistable energy harvester was performed for primary harmonic (period-1T) and subharmonic (period-3T) interwell motions. The analytical expression of the optimal load resistance was derived, based on the spectral analyses of the interwell motions, and evaluated. The analytical results are in excellent agreement with the numerical ones. A parametric study shows that the optimal load resistance depended on the forcing frequency, but not the intensity of the ambient vibration. Additionally, it was found that the optimal resistance for the period-3T interwell motion tended to be approximately three times larger than that for the period-1T interwell motion, which means that the optimal resistance was directly affected by the oscillation frequency (or oscillation period) of the motion rather than the forcing frequency. For broadband energy harvesting applications, the subharmonic interwell motion is also useful, in addition to the primary harmonic interwell motion. In designing such piezoelectric bistable energy harvesters, the frequency dependency of the optimal load resistance should be considered properly depending on ambient vibrations.


Author(s):  
Shengxi Zhou ◽  
Junyi Cao ◽  
Jing Lin ◽  
Chengbin Ma

A nonlinear magnetic coupling model for piezoelectric energy harvesting systems is proposed in this paper. For the purpose of enhancing harvesting efficiency from wide-spectrum vibrations, a magnetic coupling structure of piezoelectric cantilevers is presented. However, the nonlinear dynamic of broadband piezoelectric energy harvesters could not be adequately described due to complex nonlinear magnetic force. Furthermore, the broken frequency can not be predicted using the designed dimensionless model. In order to solve those issues, the nonlinear magnetic force is established using polynomial equation. Based on Hamilton principle and finite element theory, a nonlinear model of the standard piezoelectric cantilever with magnetic coupling is established. Frequency sweeping experiments with various excitation are carried out. The results show that the output characteristic of the proposed model is approximate to that of experimental system under the same condition, and also their broken frequency is very close.


Author(s):  
Jesse J. French ◽  
Colton T. Sheets

Wind energy capture in today’s environment is often focused on producing large amounts of power through massive turbines operating at high wind speeds. The device presented by the authors performs on the extreme opposite scale of these large wind turbines. Utilizing vortex induced vibration combined with developed and demonstrated piezoelectric energy harvesting techniques, the device produces power consistent with peer technologies in the rapidly growing field of micro-energy harvesting. Vortex-induced vibrations in the Karman vortex street are the catalyst for energy production of the device. To optimize power output, resonant frequency of the harvester is matched to vortex shedding frequency at a given wind speed, producing a lock-on effect that results in the greatest amplitude of oscillation. The frequency of oscillation is varied by altering the effective spring constant of the device, thereby allowing for “tuning” of the device to specific wind environments. While localized wind conditions are never able to be predicted with absolute certainty, patterns can be established through thorough data collection. Sampling of local wind conditions led to the design and testing of harvesters operating within a range of wind velocities between approximately 4 mph and 25 mph. For the extremities of this range, devices were constructed with resonant frequencies of approximately 17 and 163 Hz. Frequency variation was achieved through altering the material composition and geometry of the energy harvester. Experimentation was performed on harvesters to determine power output at optimized fluid velocity, as well as above and below. Analysis was also conducted on shedding characteristics of the device over the tested range of wind velocities. Computational modeling of the device is performed and compared to experimentally produced data.


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