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.

Multimodal pizza-shaped piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvesters

2021 ◽  
pp. 1045389X2110069
Author(s):  
Virgilio J Caetano ◽  
Marcelo A Savi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Frequency Spectrum ◽  
Optimization Procedure ◽  
Single Mode ◽  
Ambient Vibration ◽  
Vibration Source ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
Harvesting Systems

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.

Modeling and Performance Enhancement of Low-Frequency Energy Harvesters

2018 ◽  
pp. 826-862
Author(s):  
Abdessattar Abdelkefi
Keyword(s):  
Performance Enhancement ◽  
Mechanical Energy ◽  
Excitation Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Ocean Waves ◽  
Sensors And Actuators ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
And Performance

There exist numerous low-frequency excitation sources, such as walking, breathing, and ocean waves, capable of providing viable amounts of mechanical energy to power many critical devices, including pacemakers, cell phones, MEMS devices, wireless sensors, and actuators. Harvesting significant energy levels from such sources can only be achieved through the design of devices capable of performing effective energy transfer mechanisms over low frequencies. In this chapter, two concepts of efficient low-frequency piezoelectric energy harvesters are presented, namely, variable-shaped piezoelectric energy harvesters and piezomagnetoelastic energy harvesters. Linear and nonlinear electromechanical models are developed and validated in this chapter. The results show that the quadratic shape can yield up to two times the energy harvested by a rectangular one. It is also demonstrated that depending on the available excitation frequency, an enhanced energy harvester can be tuned and optimized by changing the length of the piezoelectric material or by changing the distance between the two tip magnets.

Modeling and Performance Enhancement of Low-Frequency Energy Harvesters

2015 ◽  
pp. 159-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdessattar Abdelkefi
Keyword(s):  
Performance Enhancement ◽  
Mechanical Energy ◽  
Excitation Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Ocean Waves ◽  
Sensors And Actuators ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
And Performance

There exist numerous low-frequency excitation sources, such as walking, breathing, and ocean waves, capable of providing viable amounts of mechanical energy to power many critical devices, including pacemakers, cell phones, MEMS devices, wireless sensors, and actuators. Harvesting significant energy levels from such sources can only be achieved through the design of devices capable of performing effective energy transfer mechanisms over low frequencies. In this chapter, two concepts of efficient low-frequency piezoelectric energy harvesters are presented, namely, variable-shaped piezoelectric energy harvesters and piezomagnetoelastic energy harvesters. Linear and nonlinear electromechanical models are developed and validated in this chapter. The results show that the quadratic shape can yield up to two times the energy harvested by a rectangular one. It is also demonstrated that depending on the available excitation frequency, an enhanced energy harvester can be tuned and optimized by changing the length of the piezoelectric material or by changing the distance between the two tip magnets.

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.

Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Frequency Up-Conversion Energy Harvesters Under Human-Generated Vibrations

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raul B. Olympio ◽  
John Donahue ◽  
Adam M. Wickenheiser
Keyword(s):  
Power Output ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Wide Band ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Human Motion ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Vibration Source ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
Exciting Frequency

Piezoelectric energy harvesters are devices capable of converting the kinetic energy present in vibration-based motion into electrical energy using piezoelectric transducers. This kind of device has its maximum efficiency when the exciting frequency matches its natural frequency. In the past years, some authors have explored the use of human motion as a vibration source, and harvesting energy in this situation is not trivial because the low-frequency characteristics of the motion are not compatible with small, light-weight transducers, which have relatively high natural frequencies. To overcome this problem, a method known as frequency up-conversion is used; it consists of a nonlinear vibration-based, magnetically excited harvester that exhibits frequency-independent performance, allowing the device to be efficient in a wide band of frequencies. In this work, the power output of a piezoelectric energy harvesting with frequency up-conversion submitted to walking and running vibrations is analyzed. Data are collected using an accelerometer located on the front pocket of each subject and then used in simulations. The model used consists of a cantilever beam with a permanent magnetic tip at the free end; this tip interacts with a magnetized structure that adds a nonlinear interaction to the model. A pure resistance matching the device’s impedance at its fundamental frequency is used to account for the output power. To verify the advantages of using the frequency up-conversion method for vibration-based energy harvesters regarding the power output and frequency band, a comparison with the linear cantilever model is analyzed. Also, in order to confirm the simulation results, a prototype of the device is built and submitted to vibration tests using a horizontally oriented motor-driven cart that recreates the motions recorded by the accelerometer; it is tested with and without the magnetic force in order to experimentally determine the nonlinearity’s effects on the power harvesting performance.

Flexible, Piezoelectric Aluminium-doped Zinc Oxide Energy Harvesters with Printed Electrodes for Wearable Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Irsyad Suhaimi ◽  
Anis Nurashikin Nordin ◽  
Aliza Aini Md Ralib ◽  
Lai Ming Lim ◽  
Zambri Samsudin
Keyword(s):  
Zinc Oxide ◽  
Output Voltage ◽  
Energy Harvester ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Axis Orientation ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
Cantilever Structure

Aims: Recent advancements in sensing technology and wireless communications have accelerated the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) which promote the usage of wearable sensors. An emerging trend is to develop self-sustainable wearable devices, thus eliminating the necessity of the user to carry bulky batteries. In this work, the development of a flexible piezoelectric energy harvester that is capable of harvesting energy from low frequency vibrations is presented. The target application of this energy harvester is for usage in smart shoes. Objectives: The objectives of this research is to design, fabricate and test an energy harvester on PET substrate using Aluminum Zinc Oxide as its piezoelectric layer. Methods: The energy harvester was designed as a cantilever structure using PET/AZO/Ag layers in d33 mode which can generate large output voltages with small displacements. The electrodes were designed as an interdigitated structure in which two significant design parameters were chosen, namely the effect of gap between electrodes, g and number of interdigital electrodes (IDE) pairs, N to the output voltage and resonant frequency. Results: The sputtered AZO on PET showed c-axis orientation at 002 peak with 2 values of 34.45° which indicates piezoelectric behaviour. The silver IDE pairs were screen-printed on the AZO thin film. Functionality of the device as an energy harvester was demonstrated by testing it using a shaker. The energy harvester was capable of generating 0.867 Vrms output voltage when actuated at 49.6 Hz vibrations. Conclusion: This indicates that the AZO thin films with printed silver electrodes can be used as flexible, d33 energy harvesters.

A Statically Balanced Compliant Ortho-Planar Mechanism for Low-Frequency Energy Harvesting

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Thijs Blad ◽  
Ron A.J. van Ostayen ◽  
Just L. Herder ◽  
Nima Tolou
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Static Balancing ◽  
Planar Mechanism ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Piezoelectric Energy ◽  
Laser Micro Machining ◽  
Low Frequency Vibration ◽  
Reference Device

Abstract The usually high eigenfrequencies of miniaturized oscillators can be significantly lowered by reducing the stiffness through static balancing. In this work, a mechanical design for a statically balanced compliant ortho-planar mechanism is proposed. The mechanism was prototyped using laser micro-machining and subsequently preloaded through packaging. The statically balanced property of the mechanism was experimentally validated by a measurement of the force-deflection relation. A piezoelectric transducer was added and the resulting energy harvesting device was tested at low-frequency vibration of 2Hz. Compared to a reference device, an almost sixfold increase in performance was observed due to the static balancing. Therefore, it was found that the use of static balancing can improve the power output of piezoelectric energy harvesters for low-frequency vibrations.

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