Development of Vibration Piezoelectric Harvesters by the Optimum Design of Cantilever Structures

Piezoelectric energy harvesting is a way of converting waste mechanical energy into usable electrical form. The selection of mechanical devices for conversion of mechanical to electrical energy is a significant part of vibration energy harvesting. The articles provide designing and optimization of a cantilever piezoelectric energy harvester. At first, is the selection of best mechanical device for energy harvesting application. A cantilever without proof mass is then analyzed for the selection of substrate, and piezoelectric material also plays a key role in the performance of the device. Aluminum is selected as a substrate, while zinc oxide acts as the piezoelectric layer. Addition of proof mass reduces the resonant frequency of the device to about 51 Hz as compared to 900 Hz for an aluminum cantilever beam. An electromechanical study shows an active conversion of mechanical input energy to electrical output energy. Power frequency response functions of the resultant structure are able to generate 0.47 mW power having 6.8 μA current at 1 g input acceleration