Hierarchical Modeling and Finite Element Analysis of Piezoelectric Energy Harvester From Structure-Piezoelectric-Circuit Interaction

Abstract

The piezoelectric energy harvesting devices for the conversion of mechanical vibration into electric energy via a flexible piezoelectric energy harvesting (FPED) structure have gained greater attention. Here, the large deformation of the FPED structure causes a strong interaction with the electric field (direct-piezoelectric effect) and structural field (inverse-piezoelectric effect), and vice-versa. Also an electrical circuit is attached to the electrodes covering the piezoelectric layers. This becomes a three-way coupling of the structure, the electromechanical effect of the piezoelectric material, and the electrical circuit. A mathematical and numerical model of the complex physical system of the involved multiphysics coupling characteristics in order to predict the operational properties and to increase the performance is very important. The presentation will discuss a partitioned coupling algorithm based hierarchical decomposition using finite element method for piezoelectric energy harvesting from structurepiezoelectric-circuit interaction. Results obtained with the finite element analysis are compared with the experimental results of PEHDs with base excitation reported in the literature.