The dynamic characteristics of harvesting energy from mechanical vibration via piezoelectric conversion

Abstract

As an alternative power solution for low-power devices, harvesting energy from the ambient mechanical vibration has received increasing research interest in recent years. In this paper we study the transient dynamic characteristics of a piezoelectric energy harvesting system including a piezoelectric energy harvester, a bridge rectifier, and a storage capacitor. To accomplish this, this energy harvesting system is modeled, and the charging process of the storage capacitor is investigated by employing the in-phase assumption. The results indicate that the charging voltage across the storage capacitor and the gathered power increase gradually as the charging process proceeds, whereas the charging rate slows down over time as the charging voltage approaches to the peak value of the piezoelectric voltage across the piezoelectric materials. In addition, due to the added electrical damping and the change of the system natural frequency when the charging process is initiated, a sudden drop in the vibration amplitude is observed, which in turn affects the charging rate. However, the vibration amplitude begins to increase as the charging process continues, which is caused by the decrease in the electrical damping (i.e., the decrease in the energy removed from the mechanical vibration). This electromechanical coupling characteristic is also revealed by the variation of the vibration amplitude with the charging voltage.

Broadband energy harvesting via magnetic coupling between two movable magnets

“…The linear PEH is often modeled as a mass + spring + damper + piezo structure. [13,[40][41][42] The governing equations of the linear PEH can be described by…”

“…Harvesting energy from ambient mechanical vibrations has been considered as a promising solution to this issue. [9][10][11][12][13] The ultimate aim is to implement self-powered systems. [11] Mechanical vibration can be converted into electrical energy as a power supply via electrostatic, [14] electromagnetic, [15] or piezoelectric transductions.…”

Performance of beam-type piezoelectric vibration energy harvester based on ZnO film fabrication and improved energy harvesting circuit

“…To improve the efficiency of the collection and conversion, three fundamental elements should be considered, i.e., mechanical structures, piezoelectric materials, and energy harvesting circuits. [1] In the mechanical structures, [2][3][4][5] spiral, [6,7] dandelion, [8] cymbal, [9] diaphragm type, [10] beam-type, [11,12] and Lshaped [13] structures, etc. have been developed in order to amplify the vibration amplitude from the environment and broaden the vibration frequency range of the harvester.…”

Flow aeroacoustic damping using coupled mechanical–electrical impedance in lined pipeline

“…[5] The physical insight of such methodology is to adjust the boundary conditions of the acoustic wave by configuring the mechanical properties of the resonators. [6] In the research of energy scavenging for low-power autonomous electronic devices, [7][8][9][10] the mechanical vibration, as an attractive energy source due to its high availability in environments, has become an attractive target for energy harvesting. [11][12][13] Physically, vibration energies can be converted into electronic power with high efficiency through piezoelectric effect, [14][15][16] electromagnetic effect, [17][18][19] and electrostatic (coupled with triboelectric) effect.…”