Experimental Investigation of Piezoelectric Bimorph Cantilever on Vibration Energy Harvesting Performance

Abstract

The bimorph piezoelectric cantilever model for vibration energy harvesting was established to analyse its natural frequency and generating performance according to Euler-Bernoulli theory. The influence of the length and thickness of piezoelectric cantilever on natural frequency and generating voltage was discussed by computing the cantilever equivalent stiffness. Experimental investigation was performed to measure its natural frequency and output generating voltage of bimorph piezoelectric cantilever, and the effect of cantilever with different proof mass and structural parameters on generating performance was also analysed. Theoretical results of bimorph piezoelectric cantilever are compared with experimental results qualitatively, good correlations are observed.