A nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvester for various mechanical motions

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4922212· OSTI ID:22412542

Fan, Kangqi ^[1]; Chang, Jianwei; Liu, Zhaohui; Zhu, Yingmin ^[1]; Pedrycz, Witold ^[2]

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1. School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071 (China)
2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2V4 (Canada)

This study presents a nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvester with intent to scavenge energy from diverse mechanical motions. The harvester consists of four piezoelectric cantilever beams, a cylindrical track, and a ferromagnetic ball, with magnets integrated to introduce the magnetic coupling between the ball and the beams. The experimental results demonstrate that the harvester is able to collect energy from various directions of vibrations. For the vibrations perpendicular to the ground, the maximum peak voltage is increased by 3.2 V and the bandwidth of the voltage above 4 V is increased by more than 4 Hz compared to the results obtained when using a conventional design. For the vibrations along the horizontal direction, the frequency up-conversion is realized through the magnetic coupling. Moreover, the proposed design can harvest energy from the sway motion around different directions on the horizontal plane. Harvesting energy from the rotation motion is also achieved with an operating bandwidth of approximately 6 Hz.

• OSTI ID: 22412542
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 22; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANTIFERROMAGNETISM
COUPLING
MAGNETS
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PIEZOELECTRICITY