Design of an impact-type piezoelectric energy harvesting system for increasing power and durability of piezoelectric ceramics

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to design a piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) that not only resists damage but also generates a higher power when impact is applied. To increase the generated power and durability a PEH, in this study, we investigated a new model and carried out numerical simulations of and experiments on the PEH. The numerical simulation results show that the stress distribution of the proposed PEH is more uniform than that of a conventional impact-type PEH. Thus, the proposed PEH decreases its possibility of being damaged. Experimental results for power under a matched impedance condition show that the maximum RMS powers of the conventional impact-type and proposed PEHs were 0.69mWat 16 k Omega and 3.97mW at 7 k Omega, respectively. Furthermore, the peak power of the proposed PEH was 518mW, which was 3,047% higher than that of the conventional impact-type PEH having a peak power of 17mW. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics