Analytical modeling and experimental validation of a structurally integrated piezoelectric energy harvester on a thin plate

Abstract

Vibration-based energy harvesting using piezoelectric cantilevers has been extensively studied over the past decade. As an alternative to cantilevered harvesters, piezoelectric patch harvesters integrated to thin plates can be more convenient for use in marine, aerospace and automotive applications since these systems are often composed of thin plate-like structures with various boundary conditions. In this paper, we present analytical electroelastic modeling of a piezoelectric energy harvester structurally integrated to a thin plate along with experimental validations. The distributed-parameter electroelastic model of the thin plate with the piezoceramic patch harvester is developed based on Kirchhoff's plate theory for all-four-edges clamped (CCCC) boundary conditions. Closed-form steady-state response expressions for coupled electrical output and structural vibration are obtained under transverse point force excitation. Analytical electroelastic frequency response functions (FRFs) relating the voltage output and vibration response to force input are derived and generalized for different boundary conditions. Experimental validation and extensive theoretical analysis efforts are then presented with a case study employing a thin PZT-5A piezoceramic patch attached on the surface of a rectangular aluminum CCCC plate. The importance of positioning of the piezoceramic patch harvester is discussed through an analysis of dynamic strain distribution on the overall plate surface. The electroelastic model is validated by a comparison of analytical and experimental FRFs for a wide range of resistive electrical boundary conditions. Finally, power generation performance of the structurally integrated piezoceramic patch harvester from multiple vibration modes is investigated analytically and experimentally.

Soft and Hard Piezoelectric Ceramics and Single Crystals for Random Vibration Energy Harvesting

“…In the existing literatureofpiezoelectrice nergy harvesting, linear and nonlinear beams and plates with piezoelectric layers have been the main focus of the mainstream research. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Numerous articles have reported the development of analytical and numerical electromechanical models of cantilevered energy harvesters for the optimal mechanical and electrical conditions [9,11,[20][21][22] with the assumption that the vibration input to the harvesteri so fd eterministic type,o ften as simple as harmonic excitation at resonance. [7,12,23,24] However, in most applications,a mbientv ibrations are manifested in non-deterministicf orms.W hen compared with the amount of published research on piezoelectric energy harvesters with deterministic harmonic input, the existinge fforts on piezo-electric energy harvesting from broadband and band-limited random vibrations are very limited.…”

Vibration Bandgaps of Piezoelectric Metamaterial Plate with Local Resonators for Vibration Energy Harvesting

“…Obviously, it is difficult to obtain an exact solution of the PMP-LR according to equation (20). Similar to existing works [8,10], the Rayleigh-Ritz method will be implemented to perform modal vibration analysis in this paper.…”

“…Erturk presented analytical formulation for energy harvesting with piezoelectric patches from surface fluctuations of large and high impedance structures [9]. Aridogan et al [10] derived analytical closed-form expressions of piezoelectric patch-based energy harvesters structurally integrated to fully clamped plates. However, those works mostly focus on a single piezoelectric patch, and vibration propagations on the thin plate are often less considered.…”

Equivalent circuit modeling of a piezo-patch energy harvester on a thin plate with AC–DC conversion

“…Since the neighboring modes are not included, as the excitation frequency deviates from the resonance condition, the single-mode solution fails to be reliable and accurate. Having validated the analytical (modal analysis) results versus numerical (FEM) results through figures 4-6 (note that the analytical model was experimentally validated previously [34]), next the AC-DC conversion problem is explored by adding the standard ideal rectification circuit. Figure 7 illustrates the standard AC-DC piezoelectric energy harvesting circuit consisting of a full-wave rectifier, a smoothing capacitor, and a resistive load.…”