Advances in energy harvesting using low profile piezoelectric transducers

Abstract

The vast reduction in the size and power consumption of sensors and CMOS circuitry has led to a focused research effort on the on-board power sources which can replace the batteries. The concern with batteries has been that they must always be charged before use. Similarly, the sensors and data acquisition components in distributed networks require centralized energy sources for their operation. In some applications such as sensors for structural health monitoring in remote locations, geographically inaccessible temperature or humidity sensors, the battery charging or replacement operations can be tedious and expensive. Logically, the emphasis in such cases has been on developing the on-site generators that can transform any available form of energy at the location into electrical energy. Piezoelectric energy harvesting has emerged as one of the prime methods for transforming mechanical energy into electric energy. This review article provides a comprehensive coverage of the recent developments in the area of piezoelectric energy harvesting using low profile transducers and provides the results for various energy harvesting prototype devices. A brief discussion is also presented on the selection of the piezoelectric materials for on and off resonance applications. Analytical models reported in literature to describe the efficiency and power magnitude of the energy harvesting process are analyzed.

Hybrid Nanogenerator for Concurrently Harvesting Biomechanical and Biochemical Energy

“…In such a case, the voltage applied to an external load R is V BFC Ϯ V NG , which gives an output power of (V BFC Ϯ V NG ) 2 /R. The average peak output power for each cycle of the mechanical ac- 2 /R. In addition, methods can eventually be developed for rectification of the a.c. NG output to obtain a d.c. signal and integration with the d.c. output of the BFC to give an overall enhanced d.c. output.…”

Piezo-Electrochemical Energy Harvesting with Lithium-Intercalating Carbon Fibers

“…5 Kinetic energy is often converted into electrical energy using piezoelectric harvesters that have operating frequencies of typically 100-1,000 Hz, 3 are small, light and have advantageous energy densities. 1,6 Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoceramics have high piezoelectric coupling and energy conversion rate, but are too brittle to take general shape. 1 Rechargeable batteries are the primary electrical energy-storage medium for today's mobile and wearable electrical devices, although with inherent demand of external input in form of contacting and charging.…”

Piezoelectric performances of undoped (K,Na)NbO3 ceramics and crystals for transducers applications

“…Figure 2 presents the microstructure of KNN materials obtained by: (a) spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 920°C / 5min / 50 MPa, (b) and (c) by conventional sintering at 1110°C / 10h and 48h respectively, and (d) crystal boule from floating zone method (FZM). SPS sintering leads to a dense and homogeneous microstructure with apparent density over 96% of the theoretical density (4.51 g / cm 3 ) and small grain with average grain size of 2 μm. Moreover, the conventional sintering at 1110°C / 10h also gives a homogenous microstructure but its apparent density is about 90% of the theoretical density.…”

“…[1,2]. As a result of these intensive studies, they appear more recently in new emerging areas such as micro-motors, energy harvesting devices, magnetoelectric sensors, power transformer, actuators, transducers [3,4].…”