Use of a Piezocomposite Generating Element in Energy Harvesting

Abstract

In this work, we propose a high performance piezocomposite generating element (PCGE), which can be used in energy harvesting applications and evaluate its electricity generating performance. The effectiveness of the PCGE is verified with numerical and experimental data. The PCGE is composed of layers of carbon/epoxy, piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic, and glass/epoxy cured at an elevated temperature. The results of this study reveal that the output voltage of the PCGE under vibration is affected considerably by variations in the layup configurations of the PCGEs and residual stress after the curing process. In particular, each laminated structure has a distinctive moment arm and bending stiffness, both of which affect the generating performance of the PCGE. Besides the effect of the layup configuration, the curing process causes the PCGE to have residual stress in the PZT layer because of a mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion between the constituent layers. This residual stress generally causes a change in the voltage coefficient, g31, of the PZT layer. The ANSYSTM program was used to conduct a finite element analysis of the stress distribution in the PCGE. For the experimental tests, three kinds of PCGE layup configuration are subjected to vibration in order to validate theoretical predictions and verify the PCGEs’ capability of converting oscillatory mechanical energy into electrical energy. The experimental results confirm that the electricity generating performance can be enhanced by a proper design of the PCGE.

The macro-fibre composite–bonded effect analysis on the micro-energy harvester performance and structural health–monitoring system of woven kenaf turbine blade for vertical axis wind turbine application

“…Voltage RMS was the output for this analysis. The bonded MFC type performs better, which corresponds with previous 30 reports. The MFC performance depended on the distance of MFC layer from the neutral axis of the structure.…”

Blocking force measurement of shape memory polymer composite hinges for space deployable structures

“…Bending stiffnesses of SMPC hinges with and without heating elements, shown in Figure 20, were calculated by equation 9. The total bending stiffness is the sum of the bending stiffness of each layer with respect to the neutral axis (Qiao et al, 2013;Tien and Goo, 2010) Figure 20. Cross section and bending stiffness of the SMPC hinge with and without heating element.…”

Enhancement of energy harvesting capability using PVDF/GFRP-laminated films

“…As pointed out, an advantage to employ multilayer films is that the total capacitance can be increased while maintaining the same open-circuit voltage [36]. The materials used in fabrication of the specimens are unidirectional GFRP prepregs (TOHO Tenax Co., Japan) and commercial PVDF film (KF piezofilm, Kureha Co. Ltd, Japan).…”

“…The experiments showed that the active energy harvesting approach generated about five times of energy for the same mechanical displacement compared to the passive rectifier-based circuit. To overcome the brittleness of PZT, a much more complex multilayered piezo-composite generating element incorporating PZT ceramic layer, carbon/epoxy layer and glass/epoxy layers together was designed to prolong the life span of the PZT [36]. They developed three types of laminated beam structure with the different allocations of the above three layers, and found that the performance of power harvesting from the laminated beam vibration could be enhanced under a proper lamination pattern.…”