A Novel Tri-Direction Energy Harvester Using Bimorph Cantilever Structure

2012 ◽  
Vol 220-223 ◽  
pp. 669-673
Author(s):  
Kang Qi Fan ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Hai Dong Huo

Energy harvesting for powering low-power devices has drawn considerable attention over the last decade. This paper reports a novel tri-direction energy harvester to scavenge energy from wind and vibration, or a combination of them. The proposed harvester consists of a triple-level bimorph cantilever with a mass block to harness energy from ambient vibration. The mass block also acts as an aerofoil and bluff body to scavenge energy from wind. Theoretical analysis shows that the maximum output power of the harvester is 2.77 W, and the resonance frequency is 79 Hz.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-99
Author(s):  
Aliza Aini Md Ralib ◽  
Nur Wafa Asyiqin Zulfakher ◽  
Rosminazuin Ab Rahim ◽  
Nor Farahidah Za'bah ◽  
Noor Hazrin Hany Mohamad Hanif

Vibration energy harvesting has been progressively developed in the advancement of technology and widely used by a lot of researchers around the world. There is a very high demand for energy scavenging around the world due to it being cheaper in price, possibly miniaturized within a system, long lasting, and environmentally friendly. The conventional battery is hazardous to the environment and has a shorter operating lifespan. Therefore, ambient vibration energy serves as an alternative that can replace the battery because it can be integrated and compatible to micro-electromechanical systems. This paper presents the design and analysis of a MEMS piezoelectric energy harvester, which is a vibration energy harvesting type. The energy harvester was formed using Lead Zicronate Titanate (PZT-5A) as the piezoelectric thin film, silicon as the substrate layer and structural steel as the electrode layer. The resonance frequency will provide the maximum output power, maximum output voltage and maximum displacement of vibration. The operating mode also plays an important role to generate larger output voltage with less displacement of cantilever. Some designs also have been studied by varying height and length of piezoelectric materials. Hence, this project will demonstrate the simulation of a MEMS piezoelectric device for a low power electronic performance. Simulation results show PZT-5A piezoelectric energy with a length of 31 mm and height of 0.16 mm generates maximum output voltage of 7.435 V and maximum output power of 2.30 mW at the resonance frequency of 40 Hz. ABSTRAK: Penuaian tenaga getaran telah berkembang secara pesat dalam kemajuan teknologi dan telah digunakan secara meluas oleh ramai penyelidik di seluruh dunia. Terdapat permintaan yang sangat tinggi di seluruh dunia terhadap penuaian tenaga kerana harganya yang lebih murah, bersaiz kecil dalam satu sistem, tahan lama dan mesra alam. Manakala, bateri konvensional adalah berbahaya bagi alam sekitar dan mempunyai jangka hayat yang lebih pendek. Oleh itu, getaran tenaga dari persekitaran lebih sesuai sebagai alternatif kepada bateri kerana ia mudah diintegrasikan dan serasi dengan sistem mikroelektromekanikal. Kertas kerja ini  membentangkan reka bentuk dan analisis tenaga piezoelektrik MEMS iaitu salah satu jenis penuaian tenaga getaran. Penuai tenaga ini dibentuk menggunakan Lead Zicronate Titanate (PZT-5A) sebagai lapisan filem tipis piezoelektrik, silikon sebagai lapisan substrat dan keluli struktur sebagai lapisan elektrod. Frekuensi resonans akan memberikan hasil tenaga maksima, voltan tenaga maksima dan getaran jarak maksima. Mod pengendalian juga memainkan peranan penting bagi menghasilkan tenaga yang lebih besar. Reka bentuk yang mempunyai ketinggian dan panjang berlainan juga telah diuji dengan menggunakan bahan piezoelektrik yang sama. Oleh itu, projek ini akan menghasilkan simulasi piezoelektrik MEMS yang sesuai digunakan bagi alat elektronik berkuasa rendah. Hasil simulasi menunjukkan dengan panjang 31 mm dan ketinggian 0.16 mm, piezoelektrik PZT ini menghasilkan voltan maksima sebanyak 7.435 V dan tenaga output maksima 2.30 mW pada frekuensi resonans 40 Hz.


Micromachines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Elahi ◽  
Marco Eugeni ◽  
Federico Fune ◽  
Luca Lampani ◽  
Franco Mastroddi ◽  
...  

In the last few decades, piezoelectric (PZT) materials have played a vital role in the aerospace industry because of their energy harvesting capability. PZT energy harvesters (PEH) absorb the energy from an operational environment and can transform it into useful energy to drive nano/micro-electronic components. In this research work, a PEH based on the flag-flutter mechanism is presented. This mechanism is based on fluid-structure interaction (FSI). The flag is subjected to the axial airflow in the subsonic wind tunnel. The performance evaluation of the harvester and aeroelastic analysis is investigated numerically and experimentally. A novel solution is presented to extract energy from Limit Cycle Oscillations (LCOs) phenomenon by means of PZT transduction. The PZT patch absorbs the flow-induced structural vibrations and transforms it into electrical energy. Furthermore, the optimal resistance and length of the flag is predicted to maximize the energy harvesting. Different configurations of flag i.e., with Aluminium (Al) patch and PZT patch for flutter mode vibration mode are studied numerically and experimentally. The bifurcation diagram is constructed for the experimental campaign for the flutter instability of a cantilevered flag in subsonic wind-tunnel. Moreover, the flutter boundary conditions are analysed for reduced critical velocity and frequency. The designed PZT energy harvester via flag-flutter mechanism is suitable for energy harvesting in aerospace engineering applications to drive wireless sensors. The maximum output power that can be generated from the designed harvester is 6.72 mW and the optimal resistance is predicted to be 0.33 MΩ.


2013 ◽  
Vol 562-565 ◽  
pp. 1052-1057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Qiang Zhao ◽  
Zhi Yu Wen ◽  
Li Cheng Deng ◽  
Guo Xi Luo ◽  
Zheng Guo Shang ◽  
...  

A micro piezoelectric cantilever beam array is designed for vibration energy harvesting. A single degree of freedom analytical model is developed to predict the properties of the device and is verified by finite element method. The piezoelectric material Aluminum Nitride was chosen for the compatibility with the CMOS process. The devices consisting of 5 piezoelectric cantilever beams and one proof mass were fabricated using micromachining technology. The resonance frequency, voltage and power were tested at excitation acceleration of 5.0 g. The maximum output power of the device is 9.13 μW at the resonance frequency of 1315 Hz when piezoelectric beams are connected in parallel.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junlei Wang ◽  
Linfeng Geng ◽  
Meng Zhang ◽  
Guifeng Zhao ◽  
Min Zhang ◽  
...  

Small-scale energy harvesting from ambient vibration induced by aerodynamic instabilities can be used for wireless sensing applications. The configuration with a bluff body attached to a piezoelectric cantilever has been exploited in many studies. For low-wind energy harvesting, vortex-induced vibration is investigated more frequently than other types of flow-induced motions, such as galloping and flutter, because of its quasisteady behavior called the potential lock-in phenomenon. In practice, a stationary square column is placed before the energy harvester to generate wake shedding, which can broaden the bandwidth of the energy harvester compared with a pure energy harvester equipped with a single bluff body. This paper presents a proposed CFD method coupled with an electromechanical model to predict the performance of the energy harvester. The proposed approach is verified with our experimental setup. The time history of the voltage output and the frequency response is obtained by performing the relevant experiments. A subsequent CFD study is performed to investigate the flow patterns of the present energy harvesting system.


Author(s):  
Yu-ji Gao ◽  
Yong-gang Leng ◽  
Lin-chen Shen ◽  
Yan Guo

A vibration energy harvester is typically composed of a spring–mass system, with the advantage of high energy density, simple structure and easily being miniaturized. Recently, effects of cantilever beam’s structural parameters and cross-section shape on energy-harvesting micro-device is concerned and investigated in this paper, so as to study its performance of energy harvesting to meet the needs of low resonant frequency and maximum output power. The effect of a cantilever beam’s structure dimensions as well as quality of the mass on the device’s resonance frequency and maximum output power can be detected through formula computing. Further study on effect of a cantilever beam’s cross-section shape has also been worked out. According to the simulation experimental results gained from ANSYS with appropriate parameters defined by theoretical derivation, we manage to receive concordant conclusions. To receive a better performance of the energy harvester, we should choose a shorter, wider and thicker cantilever beam with rectangular cross-section and heavier mass at its end. However, to meet the requirement of low resonant frequency for piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting, we still need to define either an upper or a lower limit while choosing parameters of the device.


Author(s):  
Dong-Xing Cao ◽  
Wei Xia ◽  
Xiang-Ying Guo ◽  
Siu-Kai Lai

Piezoelectric-based energy harvesting techniques offer a promising way to transform vibration energy into electric energy. However, many vibration energy harvesters (VEH) can only work under narrow bandwidths and limited high frequencies to restrict their working performance. In this paper, a vibro-impact piezoelectric VEH is proposed, where a partial interlayer-separated piezoelectric beam is designed to improve the voltage output and frequency bandwidth of the VEH. First, the mechanism of the proposed VEH is introduced and the electromechanical model is derived based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and vibro-impact dynamic model. Voltage-frequency responses are then obtained by using an approximate analytical method. In addition, the effect of partial interlayer-separated piezoelectric beams on the energy harvesting performance is investigated numerically. A parametric study is performed to investigate the influence of system parameters on the voltage output in terms of bandwidth and magnitude. Finally, the theoretical solutions are validated by experimental results, the voltage output of the proposed VEH is higher than the non-impact type. The maximum output power of the proposed VEH is about 12 times more than that of the conventional one under a 0.2 g acceleration. Due to the good agreement of the variation trend between the theoretical values and experiment results, the proposed partial interlayer-separated beam VEH can be used for a further optimization of the vibration energy harvester.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 872
Author(s):  
Rujun Song ◽  
Chengwei Hou ◽  
Chongqiu Yang ◽  
Xianhai Yang ◽  
Qianjian Guo ◽  
...  

This paper studies a novel enhanced energy-harvesting method to harvest water flow-induced vibration with a tandem arrangement of two piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEHs) in the direction of flowing water, through simulation modeling and experimental validation. A mathematical model is established by two individual-equivalent single-degree-of-freedom models, coupled with the hydrodynamic force obtained by computational fluid dynamics. Through the simulation analysis, the variation rules of vibration frequency, vibration amplitude, power generation and the distribution of flow field are obtained. And experimental tests are performed to verify the numerical calculation. The experimental and simulation results show that the upstream piezoelectric energy harvester (UPEH) is excited by the vortex-induced vibration, and the maximum value of performance is achieved when the UPEH and the vibration are resonant. As the vortex falls off from the UPEH, the downstream piezoelectric energy harvester (DPEH) generates a responsive beat frequency vibration. Energy-harvesting performance of the DPEH is better than that of the UPEH, especially at high speed flows. The maximum output power of the DPEH (371.7 μW) is 2.56 times of that of the UPEH (145.4 μW), at a specific spacing between the UPEN and the DPEH. Thereupon, the total output power of the two tandem piezoelectric energy harvester systems is significantly greater than that of the common single PEH, which provides a good foreground for further exploration of multiple piezoelectric energy harvesters system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pashupati R. Adhikari ◽  
Nishat T. Tasneem ◽  
Russell C. Reid ◽  
Ifana Mahbub

AbstractIncreasing demand for self-powered wearable sensors has spurred an urgent need to develop energy harvesting systems that can reliably and sufficiently power these devices. Within the last decade, reverse electrowetting-on-dielectric (REWOD)-based mechanical motion energy harvesting has been developed, where an electrolyte is modulated (repeatedly squeezed) between two dissimilar electrodes under an externally applied mechanical force to generate an AC current. In this work, we explored various combinations of electrolyte concentrations, dielectrics, and dielectric thicknesses to generate maximum output power employing REWOD energy harvester. With the objective of implementing a fully self-powered wearable sensor, a “zero applied-bias-voltage” approach was adopted. Three different concentrations of sodium chloride aqueous solutions (NaCl-0.1 M, NaCl-0.5 M, and NaCl-1.0 M) were used as electrolytes. Likewise, electrodes were fabricated with three different dielectric thicknesses (100 nm, 150 nm, and 200 nm) of Al2O3 and SiO2 with an additional layer of CYTOP for surface hydrophobicity. The REWOD energy harvester and its electrode–electrolyte layers were modeled using lumped components that include a resistor, a capacitor, and a current source representing the harvester. Without using any external bias voltage, AC current generation with a power density of 53.3 nW/cm2 was demonstrated at an external excitation frequency of 3 Hz with an optimal external load. The experimental results were analytically verified using the derived theoretical model. Superior performance of the harvester in terms of the figure-of-merit comparing previously reported works is demonstrated. The novelty of this work lies in the combination of an analytical modeling method and experimental validation that together can be used to increase the REWOD harvested power extensively without requiring any external bias voltage.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 391
Author(s):  
Nan Wu ◽  
Yuncheng He ◽  
Jiyang Fu ◽  
Peng Liao

In this paper a novel hybrid piezoelectric and electromagnetic energy harvester for civil engineering low-frequency sloshing environment is reported. The architecture, fabrication and characterization of the harvester are discussed. The hybrid energy harvester is composed of a permanent magnet, copper coil, and PVDF(polyvinylidene difluoride) piezoelectric film, and the upper U-tube device containing a cylindrical fluid barrier is connected to the foundation support plate by a hinge and spring. The two primary means of energy collection were through the vortex street, which alternately impacted the PVDF piezoelectric film through fluid shedding, and the electromotive force (EMF) induced by changes in the magnetic field position in the conducting coil. Experimentally, the maximum output power of the piezoelectric transformer of the hybrid energy harvester was 2.47 μW (circuit load 270 kΩ; liquid level height 80 mm); and the maximum output power of the electromagnetic generator was 2.72 μW (circuit load 470 kΩ; liquid level height 60 mm). The low-frequency sloshing energy collected by this energy harvester can drive microsensors for civil engineering monitoring.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Zhao ◽  
Yi Qin ◽  
Lei Guo ◽  
Baoping Tang

Vibration-based energy harvesting technology is the most promising method to solve the problems of self-powered wireless sensor nodes, but most of the vibration-based energy harvesters have a rather narrow operation bandwidth and the operation frequency band is not convenient to adjust when the ambient frequency changes. Since the ambient vibration may be broadband and changeable, a novel V-shaped vibration energy harvester based on the conventional piezoelectric bimorph cantilevered structure is proposed, which successfully improves the energy harvesting efficiency and provides a way to adjust the operation frequency band of the energy harvester conveniently. The electromechanical coupling equations are established by using Euler-Bernoulli equation and piezoelectric equation, and then the coupled circuit equation is derived based on the series connected piezoelectric cantilevers and Kirchhoff's laws. With the above equations, the output performances of V-shaped structure under different structural parameters and load resistances are simulated and discussed. Finally, by changing the angle θ between two piezoelectric bimorph beams and the load resistance, various comprehensive experiments are carried out to test the performance of this V-shaped energy harvester under the same excitation. The experimental results show that the V-shaped energy harvester can not only improve the frequency response characteristic and the output performance of the electrical energy, but also conveniently tune the operation bandwidth; thus it has great application potential in actual structure health monitoring under variable working condition.


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