Topology optimization of 2DOF piezoelectric plate energy harvester under external in-plane force

Abstract

In this paper, the goal is to design a two degrees of freedom piezoelectric plate energy harvester which can harvest the energy from external in-plane harmonic force coming from different directions. The most challenging problem in this case is the charge cancellation due to combination of tension and compression in different parts of the plate. Therefore, topology optimization method is utilized to find the best possible layout and polarization profile of the piezoelectric plate to maximize the electrical output and to overcome the problem of charge cancellation. To do so, a detailed two dimensional finite element modelling of the piezoelectric material suitable for topology optimization is presented primarily. The topology optimization algorithm is established based on the finite element model to have minimum amount of numerical instabilities. To follow the optimized polarization profile, the electrode in top surface of the piezoelectric plate is separated to two sections that can have potentials with different sign on the same surface. Numerical simulation by COMSOL Multiphysics finite element software and experimental investigation on the fabricated designs demonstrated that the optimized design is highly superior to the classical full plate in terms of produced voltage and electrical power while having less volume of piezoelectric material.

2D topology optimization MATLAB codes for piezoelectric actuators and energy harvesters

“…Here the goal is to prove the normalization which is proposed by authors in Homayouni-Amlashi (2019) and Homayouni-Amlashi et al (2020b). To normalize the global FEM equation of the piezoelectric plate…”

“…Afterwards, other approaches including SIMP (Kögl and Silva 2005), BESO (de Almeida 2019) or level set method (Chen et al 2010) are also explored. By defining proper objective functions, TO methodology is applied to piezoelectric actuators (Moretti and Silva 2019;Gonċalves et al 2018), sensors (Menuzzi et al 2018) and energy harvesters (Homayouni-Amlashi et al 2020b;Homayouni-Amlashi 2019;Townsend et al 2019). The publications considered different types of system modeling including the static (Zheng et al 2009), dynamic (Noh and Yoon 2012;Wein et al 2009), modal (Wang et al 2017) and electrical circuit coupling (Salas et al 2018;Rupp et al 2009).…”

A Three-Dimensional and Bi-objective Topological Optimization Approach Based on Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

“…(2) Material property Material PZT-4 of the IEEE standard was selected [27], and the parameters were as shown in Equations (9)- (11).…”

“…The geometric design freedom and multi-material parallelism of 3D printing make it possible to manufacture topology-optimized flexible mechanisms. Abbas et al researched a 2D piezoelectric topology problem, and discovered the best possible layout to overcome the charge cancellation problem [11]. Chamoin et al researched the topology optimization problem surrounding hydrophones.…”

Design of Piezoelectric Actuators By Optimizing the Electrodes Topology

“…In general, the amplifying mechanisms which are augmented to the actuators make the whole design bulky and heavy and inappropriate for small scale or micro dimension applications. Finally, the fourth class (structural optimization) is a systematic approach and includes parametric and topology optimization that consider piezoelectric materials within the optimization process [19]- [24]. The approach consists to find the actuator's optimal dimensions or shapes on the basis of intervals techniques [25] or with topology optimization methods [26] respectively.…”