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In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary study on the piezoelectric energy harvesting performance of a Zr‐doped PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3‐PbTiO3 (PMN‐PZT) single crystal beam. A novel piezoelectric beam cantilever structure is used to demonstrate the feasibility of generating AC voltage during a state of vibration. The energy‐harvesting capability of a PMN‐PZT beam is calculated and tested. The frequency response of the cantilever device shows that the first mode resonance frequency of the excitation model exists in the neighborhood of several hundreds of hertz, which is similar to the calculated value. These tests show that several significantly open AC voltages and sub‐mW power are achieved. To test the possibility of a small scale power source for a ubiquitous sensor network service, energy conversion and the testing of storage experiment are also carried out.

This letter describes an efficient technique for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of an energy harvesting device. It is based on controlling the device voltage at the point of maximum power. Using a microcontroller with a power saving technique, the MPPT algorithm maintains the maximum power with low power consumption. An experiment shows that the algorithm maximizes the energy transfer power using an energy management IC fabricated in a 0.18‐μm process. Compared to direct energy transfer to a battery, the proposed technique is more efficient for low‐energy harvesting under variable conditions.

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