A unified electromechanical finite element dynamic analysis of multiple segmented smart plate energy harvesters: circuit connection patterns

Abstract

This paper presents the techniques for formulating the multiple segmented smart plate structures with different circuit connection patterns using the electromechanical finite element dynamic analysis. There are three major contributions in the proposed numerical studies. First, the electromechanical discretization has been developed for generalizing the coupled system of the Kirchhoff's smart plate structures with circuit connection patterns. Such constitutive numerical models reduced from the extended Lagrange equations can be used for the physical systems including, but not restricted to the multiple piezoelectric and electrode segments. Second, the multiple piezoelectric or electrode segments can be arranged electrically in parallel, series, and mixed series-parallel connections with the on-off switching techniques where the electrical outputs of each connection are further connected with the standard AC-DC circuit interfaces. Third, the coupling transformation technique (CTT) has been introduced by modifying the orthonormalized global element matrices into the scalar form equations. As a result, the multimode frequency response function and time waveform signal response equations are distinctly formulated for each circuit connection. Further parametric numerical case studies are also discussed in this paper. The benefit of using the circuit connection patterns with the on-off switching techniques is that the studies can be used for an adaptive vibration power harvester.

Computational Modeling of Flexoelectricity—A Review

“…Non-uniform distribution of electric field can be observed, especially at the region near the top and bottom edge of the beam, which yields high electric field gradient and consequently induces deformation. Note that the considered flexoelectric beams do not account for the resistive load [10] or the rectifying circuit [77,78]. In [77], a piezoelectric structure is analyzed along with its circuit connections.…”

“…Note that the considered flexoelectric beams do not account for the resistive load [10] or the rectifying circuit [77,78]. In [77], a piezoelectric structure is analyzed along with its circuit connections. In addition, in [78], comparisons between the charge type Hamiltonian and voltage type Hamiltonian are performed to identify the output power and voltage of the piezoelectric energy harvester.…”

Algorithm for solving problems related to the natural vibrations of electro-viscoelastic structures with shunt circuits using ANSYS data

“…For the first complex natural vibration frequency, for instance, the difference between the results obtained using the finite-element mesh with 510 nodal unknowns and 5678 nodal unknowns for the real part was 0.8% and for the imaginary part was 20.5%. The difference between the results obtained using the finite-element mesh with 5678 nodal unknowns and 13323 nodal unknowns for the real part was 0.09% and for the imaginary part was 3.7% As mentioned earlier, the ANSYS package has the possibility for specifying damping proportional to the full stiffness matrix with the aid of the coefficients g or m p (25). This damping can be considered as a particular case for the model of linear viscoelasticity, which is described by complex dynamic moduli, when the shear and bulk components of the complex dynamic modulus satisfy the following condition G Tables 1 and 2 present the results of the calculations of the natural vibration frequencies for the first five eigenfrequencies of the structure with the piezoelectric element (Figure 4(a)), when it is operated in the open circuit mode (Table 1), and in the short circuit mode (Table 2), when the material of the plate has viscoelastic properties.…”

Layer-Wise Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Piezoelectric Laminates

“…where b ≡ {b m , −ρ e } denotes the generalized volume loads and t ≡ {t m , σ e } denotes the generalized surface tractions. Substituting Equations (6), (7) and (9) into Equation 11, one obtains…”

“…The availability of techniques for manufacturing composite laminates employing layers with multi-physics properties has led to the concept of smart laminates, in which different laminae may exhibit couplings between different physical fields, e.g., mechanical, thermal, electric, magnetic or even a combination of more than two of such fields, thus enabling the design of devices with multifunctional capabilities, besides the basic structural employment [2][3][4][5]. A remarkable example is provided by piezoelectric materials and laminates that, exploiting the coupling between the mechanical and electrical fields, may be employed in several applications of engineering or scientific interest [6][7][8][9].…”