Configuration consideration in improving the power output of the PZT energy harvester

Abstract

The current trend of producing small autonomous electronic devices and the disadvantages of using batteries encourage the researchers to find new power resources with a long lifetime and suitable size to use them with these devices. In this paper different configurations and mounting methods for a vibration based piezoelectric power generator array consists of triangular shaped PZT cantilevers with a proof mass at the end have been investigated to find the optimum design to maximize the power output and minimize the volume of the device. At the same tune many vertical and horizontal arrangements are tested and for a variable number of cantilevers within a range of low frequencies and a fixed acceleration to confirm the principle function of the generator which is the ability to produce a maximum power in a wide range of low frequencies which is laid around the resonant frequency of the cantilevers. Four cantilevers have been used in this experiment with a 10mm width and 25 mm length, these cantilevers composed of two layers of PZT ceramic and a brass centre shim, the range of input frequency is (50- 150)Hz with a 10 m/s2 acceleration. The horizontal cross arrangement showed a very good performance in terms of output voltage but it takes a large space, other configuration which is a combination of the horizontal and the vertical mountings can give better results in terms of power output and space consumption. Copyright © 2010 by ASME.