Pedestrian walking characteristics at stairs according to width change for application of piezoelectric energy harvesting

This work aims at finding pedestrian walking characteristics at U-type stairs according to the width change of stairs and appropriate spot for installing piezoelectric energy harvesting.The number of pedestrian at two kinds of stairs(one is stairs with 1.5 m in width and the other is stairs with 3 m in width) was estimated by calculating the number of steps on the stairs by a zone which is divided into 30 cm×30 cm.The result shows high density in the middle in the case of narrow stairs but traffic is concentrated on stair inside(pillar side) in stairs with large width.In conclusion,the location for installation of piezoelectric energy harvesting system should be considered differently on stairs width and the number of installation depends on total expected traffic and the expected traffic for a device.

Finite Element Analysis on a Square Canister Piezoelectric Energy Harvester in Asphalt Pavement

A novel square canister piezoelectric energy harvester was proposed for harvesting energy from asphalt pavement. The square of the harvester was of great advantage to compose the harvester array for harvesting energy from the asphalt pavement in a large scale. The open circuit voltage of the harvester was obtained by the piezoelectric constant d33 of the piezoelectric ceramic. The harvester is different from the cymbal harvester which works by the piezoelectric constant d31. The finite element model of the single harvester was constructed. The open circuit voltage increased with increase of the outer load. The finite element model of the single harvester buried in the asphalt pavement was built. The open circuit voltage, the deformation difference percent and the stress of the ceramic of the harvester were obtained with different buried depth. The open circuit voltage decreased when the buried depth was increased. The proper buried depth of the harvester should be selected as 30 - 50 mm. The effects of structure parameters on the open circuit voltage were gotten. The output voltage about 64.442 V could be obtained from a single harvester buried under 40 mm pavement at the vehicle load of 0.7 MPa. 0.047 mJ electric energy could be gotten in the harvester. The output power was about 0.705 mW at 15 Hz vehicle load frequency.

Design of piezoelectric energy harvesting devices subjected to broadband random vibrations by applying topology optimization

Converting ambient vibration energy into electrical energy by using piezoelectric energy harvester has attracted a lot of interest in the past few years.In this paper,a topology optimization based method is applied to simultaneously determine the optimal layout of the piezoelectric energy harvesting devices and the optimal position of the mass loading.The objective function is to maximize the energy harvesting performance over a range of vibration frequencies.Pseudo excitation method （PEM） is adopted to analyze structural stationary random responses,and sensitivity analysis is then performed by using the adjoint method.Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.

Self-powered and self-sensing devices based on piezoelectric energy harvesting

Wearable devices,interactive human-machine interface equipment,wireless sensors,and small-scale cleaning devices play crucial roles in biomedical implantation,disease treatment,health monitoring,environmental purification,etc.These devices require a sustainable energy source to work effectively.With the consideration of the global energy crisis and environmental pollution,researchers are exploring new,stable,and environmentally friendly methods to power these low-powered devices.Mechanical energy is one of the most abundant natural energy sources.Converting mechanical energy from the ambient environment or host structures into electrical energy via the direct piezoelectric effect is an efficient energy harvesting technique.This paper reviews the application of advanced piezoelectric materials,and small-scale self-powered and self-sensing piezoelectric devices at the cubic centimeter scale in energy harvesting and health monitoring of human,animal,machinery,roads,bridges,as well as the pollutant degradation of the environment.Some of these devices have the capability to not only harvest mechanical energy but also enable real-time monitoring and analysis of the electrical signals generated by the direct piezoelectric effect,facilitating prompt decision-making and appropriate responses.In addition,potential challenges and future prospects of small-scale self-powered and self-sensing piezoelectric devices are discussed.

3D vertically aligned microchannel structure to enhance piezoelectric energy harvesting performance of PZT/PVDF&CNTs piezoelectric composites

Piezoelectric energy harvesters(PEHs)have attracted significant attention with the ability of converting mechanical energy into electrical energy and power the self-powered microelectronic components.Generally,material's superior energy harvesting performance is closely related to its high transduction coefficient(d_(33)×g_(33)),which is dependent on higher piezoelectric coefficient d33 and lower dielectric constantεr of materials.However,the high d33 and lowεr are difficult to be simultaneously achieved in piezoelectric ceramics.Herein,lead zirconate titanate(PZT)based piezoelectric composites with vertically aligned microchannel structure are constructed by phase-inversion method.The polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)and carbon nanotubes(CNTs)are mixed as fillers to fabricate PZT/PVDF&CNTs composites.The unique structure and uniformly distributed CNTs network enhance the polarization and thus improve the d33.The PVDF filler effectively reduce theεr.As a consequence,the excellent piezoelectric coefficient(d_(33)=595 pC/N)and relatively low dielectric constant(ε_(r)=1,603)were obtained in PZT/PVDF&CNTs composites,which generated an ultra-high d_(33)×g_(33) of 24,942×10^(−15) m^(2)/N.Therefore,the PZT/PVDF&CNTs piezoelectric composites achieve excellent energy harvesting performance(output voltage:66 V,short current:39.22μA,and power density:1.25μW/mm^(2)).Our strategy effectively boosts the performance of piezoelectric-polymer composites,which has certain guiding significance for design of energy harvesters.

Experiment and performance analysis of serpentine-shaped cantilever beam for pipeline vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvester prototype development

Pipelines produce vibrations during fluid or gas transportation.These vibrations are less likely to cause structural failure as they exist with a small magnitude and can be harvested into useful energy.This paper presents a study on the piezoelectric energy-harvesting method converting mechanical energy from pipeline vibration into electrical energy.The performance of the serpentine-shaped piezoelectric cantilever beam was observed to check whether the design can produce the highest output voltage within the allowable vibration region of the pipeline from 10 to 300 Hz through finite element analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics software(Supplementary Material).In addition,this study investigates the energy-harvesting potential of the proposed design under real pipeline vibration conditions through a lab vibration test.The harvested energy output is evaluated based on various vibration frequencies and amplitudes,which gives an idea of the device and its performance under different operating conditions.The experiment result shows that the energy harvester produced an open-circuit voltage of 10.28-15.45 V with 1 g of vibration acceleration.The results of this research will contribute to the development of efficient piezoelectric energy harvesters adapted for pipeline environments.

A self-powered piezoelectric energy harvesting interface circuit with efficiency- enhanced P-SSHI rectifier

The key to self-powered technique is initiative to harvest energy from the surrounding environment. Harvesting energy from an ambient vibration source utilizing piezoelectrics emerged as a popular method. Effi- cient interface circuits become the main limitations of existing energy harvesting techniques. In this paper, an inter- face circuit for piezoelectric energy harvesting is presented. An active full bridge rectifier is adopted to improve the power efficiency by reducing the conduction loss on the rectifying path. A parallel synchronized switch harvesting on inductor （P-SSHI） technique is used to improve the power extraction capability from piezoelectric harvester, thereby trying to reach the theoretical maximum output power. An intermittent power management unit （IPMU） and an output capacitor-less low drop regulator （LDO） are also introduced. Active diodes （AD） instead of tradition- al passive ones are used to reduce the voltage loss over the rectifier, which results in a good power efficiency. The IPMU with hysteresis comparator ensures the interface circuit has a large transient output power by limiting the output voltage ranges from 2.2 to 2 V. The design is fabricated in a SMIC 0.18/~m CMOS technology. Simulation results show that the flipping efficiency of the P-SSHI circuit is over 80% with an off-chip inductor value of 820/zH. The output power the proposed rectifier can obtain is 44.4/~W, which is 6.7x improvement compared to the maximum output power of a traditional rectifier. Both the active diodes and the P-SSHI help to improve the output power of the proposed rectifier. LDO outputs a voltage of 1.8 V with the maximum 90% power efficiency. The proposed P-SSHI rectifier interface circuit can be self-powered without the need for additional power supply.

Performance enhancement of cantilever piezoelectric energy harvesters by sizing analysis

This paper presents the results of the performance of piezoelectric cantilever beams in relation to their size.The total produced power represents the main indicator of performance of a piezoelectric harvesting system while the area of the beams stays constant.Lightweight design is an important aspect in any industry,mainly in the aerospace.In this study,the effects of non-uniformity on the efficiency and power output are studied.Finite element method(FEM)with the application of superconvergent element(SCE)is adopted here to solve the equations.It is observed that the trapezoidal geometry(converging beam)provides a higher output power while the efficiency decreases.Moreover,in order to prove that the power enhancement is achievable while the amount of piezoelectric material consumed is constant the new configuration is proposed.In the configuration,an array of uniform beams connected in series is used instead of one single rectangular beam.The proposed setting generates an output power of 1.817mWat a resonant frequency of 284.6 Hz when excited by an input acceleration of 1 g.The only challenge is the fundamental frequency difference which ismet with the application of proof mass and thinner substrate and piezoelectric layers.

Characterization the influences of diodes to piezoelectric energy harvester

This study discloses the diode’s influences on the piezoelectric energy harvesting performance.The piezoelectric-based energy harvesting system plays an important role in scavenging environment vibration energy into electrical energy,which can be utilized by low-power electronic devices.With respect to the interface circuit,a full-wave bridge circuit is usually needed to rectify the alternating current(AC)signal into a direct current(DC)signal.The full-wave bridge is composed of four diodes,whose characteristics may influence the harvested power significantly.Therefore,in this paper,the diodes’properties and influences on the energy harvesting performance are analyzed and presented via simulation and experimental studies.It is found the harvested energy has close relationship with the diode characteristics.For the high source impedance case,diode with low reverse leakage current is favorable.For the low source impedance case,diode with low forward voltage drop is favorable.The corresponding experimental study is carried out via a piezoelectric beam,which shows that the measured harvested power differences can almost be up to 800%for the same test structure.

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

We demonstrate a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester with the ZnO piezoelectric film and an improved synchronous electric charge extraction energy harvesting circuit on the basis of the beam-type mechanical structure,especially investigate its output performance in vibration harvesting and ability to generate charges.By establishing the theoretical model for each of vibration and circuit,the numerical results of voltage and power output are obtained.By fabricating the prototype of this harvester,the quality of the sputtered film is explored.Theoretical and experimental analyses are conducted in open-circuit and closed-circuit conditions,where the open-circuit mode refers to the voltage output in relation to the ZnO film and external excitation,and the power output of the closed-circuit mode is relevant to resistance.Experimental findings show good agreement with the theoretical ones,in the output tendency.It is observed that the properties of ZnO film achieve regularly direct proportion to output performance under different excitations.Furthermore,a maximum experimental power output of 4.5 mW in a resistance range of 3 kΩ-8 kΩis achieved by using an improved synchronous electric charge extraction circuit.The result is not only more than three times the power output of classic circuit,but also can broaden the resistance to a large range of 5 kΩunder an identical maximum value of power output.In this study we demonstrate the fundamental mechanism of piezoelectric materials under multiple conditions and take an example to show the methods of fabricating and testing the ZnO film.Furthermore,it may contribute to a novel energy harvesting circuit with high output performance.

Interaction energy of interface dislocation loops in piezoelectric bi-crystals

Interface dislocations may dramatically change the electric properties, such as polarization, of the piezoelectric crystals. In this paper, we study the linear interactions of two interface dislocation loops with arbitrary shape in generally anisotropic piezoelectric bi-crystals. A simple formula for calculating the interaction energy of the interface dislocation loops is derived and given by a double line integral along two closed dislocation curves. Particularly, interactions between two straight segments of the interface dislocations are solved analytically, which can be applied to approximate any curved loop so that an analytical solution can be also achieved. Numerical results show the influence of the bi-crystal interface as well as the material orientation on the interaction of interface dislocation loops.

Enhanced galloping energy harvester with cooperative mode of vibration and collision

The low power and narrow speed range remain bottlenecks that constrain the application of small-scale wind energy harvesting.This paper proposes a simple,lowcost,and reliable method to address these critical issues.A galloping energy harvester with the cooperative mode of vibration and collision(GEH-VC)is presented.A pair of curved boundaries attached with functional materials are introduced,which not only improve the performance of the vibration energy harvesting system,but also convert more mechanical energy into electrical energy during collision.The beam deforms and the piezoelectric energy harvester(PEH)generates electricity during the flow-induced vibration.In addition,the beam contacts and separates from the boundaries,and the triboelectric nanogenerator(TENG)generates electricity during the collision.In order to reduce the influence of the boundaries on the aerodynamic performance and the feasibility of increasing the working area of the TENG,a vertical structure is designed.When the wind speed is high,the curved boundaries maintain a stable amplitude of the vibration system and increase the frequency of the vibration system,thereby avoiding damage to the piezoelectric sheet and improving the electromechanical conversion efficiency,and the TENG works with the PEH to generate electricity.Since the boundaries can protect the PEH at high wind speeds,its stiffness can be designed to be low to start working at low wind speeds.The electromechanical coupling dynamic model is established according to the GEH-VC operating principle and is verified experimentally.The results show that the GEH-VC has a wide range of operating wind speeds,and the average power can be increased by 180%compared with the traditional galloping PEH.The GEH-VC prototype is demonstrated to power a commercial temperature sensor.This study provides a novel perspective on the design of hybrid electromechanical conversion mechanisms,that is,to combine and collaborate based on their respective characteristics.

A modified airfoil-based piezoaeroelastic energy harvester with double plunge degrees of freedom

In this letter, a piezoaeroelastic energy harvester based on an airfoil with double plunge degrees of freedom is proposed to additionally take advantage of the vibrational energy of the airfoil pitch motion. An analytical model of the proposed energy harvesting system is built and compared with an equivalent model using the well-explored pitch-plunge configuration. The dynamic response and average power output of the harvester are numerically studied as the flow velocity exceeds the cut-in speed （flutter speed）. It is found that the harvester with double-plunge configuration generates 4%-10% more power with varying flow velocities while reducing 670 of the cut-in speed than its counterpart.

Suppressing friction-induced stick-slip vibration through a linear PZT-based absorber and energy harvester

In this paper,a PZT(lead zirconate titanate)-based absorber and energy harvester(PAEH)is used for passive control of friction-induced stick-slip vibration in a friction system.Its stability condition coupled with PAEH is analytically derived,whose efficiency is then demonstrated by numerical simulation.The results show that the structural parameters of the PAEH can significantly affect the system stability,which increases with the mass ratio between the PAEH and the primary system,but first increases and then decreases with the natural frequency ratio between the PAEH and the primary system.The impacts of the electric parameters of the PAEH on the system stability are found to be insignificant.In addition,the PAEH can effectively suppress the stick-slip limit cycle magnitude in a wide working parameter range;however,it does not function well for friction systems in all the working conditions.The stick-slip vibration amplitude can be increased in the case of a large loading(normal)force.Finally,an experiment on a tribo-dynamometer validates the findings of the theoretical study,in which the vibration reduction and energy harvesting performance of the PAEH is fully demonstrated.

A dual-beam piezo-magneto-elastic wake-induced vibration energy harvesting system for high-performance wind energy harvesting

Wind-induced vibration energy harvesting has a great potential for utilizing wind energy to supply power for low-powered devices.To improve the working performance of energy harvesters effectively,a suitable structural design is crucial.This paper proposes a dual-beam piezo-magneto-elastic wake-induced vibration energy harvesting system to enhance the functional performance of aeroelastic energy harvesters in environments with variable wind speeds.The system contains two piezoelectric beams coupled by magnets(forming upstream and downstream energy harvesters),and each beam is attached with a foam cylinder.A corresponding dynamic model is provided,and output characteristics are obtained at different wind speeds.Results and experimental verification indicate that both upstream and downstream energy harvesters can realize efficient energy harvesting.When the wind speed exceeds a certain critical value,the amplitudes of the system’s displacement and voltage are high.The wind speed threshold value is approximately 1.25 m/s.When the wind speed and magnet spacing are 10.2 m/s and 20 mm,respectively,the output power of the system reaches 4.9×10^(−4)W.Moreover,the wind speed threshold value of the proposed system can be adjusted by an equivalent nonlinear restoring force.

Wireless Self-Powered Vibration Sensor System for Intelligent Spindle Monitoring

In recent years,high-end equipment is widely used in industry and the accuracy requirements of the equipment have been risen year by year.During the machining process,the high-end equipment failure may have a great impact on the product quality.It is necessary to monitor the status of equipment and to predict fault diagnosis.At present,most of the condition monitoring devices for mechanical equipment have problems of large size,low precision and low energy utilization.A wireless self-powered intelligent spindle vibration acceleration sensor system based on piezoelectric energy harvesting is proposed.Based on rotor sensing technology,a sensor is made to mount on the tool holder and build the related circuit.Firstly,the energy management module collects the mechanical energy in the environment and converts the piezoelectric vibration energy into electric energy to provide 3.3 Vfor the subsequent circuit.The lithium battery supplies the system with additional power and monitors’the power of the energy storage circuit in real-time.Secondly,a three-axis acceleration sensor is used to collect,analyze and filter a series of signal processing operations of the vibration signal in the environment.The signal is sent to the upper computer by wireless transmission.The host computer outputs the corresponding X,Y,and Z channel waveforms and data under the condition of the spindle speed of 50∼2500 r/min with real-time monitoring.The KEIL5 platform is used to develop the system software.The small-size piezoelectric vibration sensor with high-speed,high-energy utilization,high accuracy,and easy installation is used for spindle monitoring.The experiment results show that the sensor system is available and practical.

Experimental study on broadband bistable energy harvester with L-shaped piezoelectric cantilever beam

This paper presents an experimental study of the broadband energy harvesting and dynamic responses of an L-shaped piezoelectric cantilever beam.Experimental results show that the L-shaped piezoelectric beam generates two optimal voltage peaks when the horizontal beam size is similar to the vertical beam size.Several optimized L-shaped piezoelectric cantilever beam structures are proposed.Power generation using the inverted bistable L-shaped beam is better.It is observed experimentally that the inverted bistable L-shaped beam structure shows obvious bistable characteristics and hard spring characteristics.Furthermore,the corresponding relationship between the bistable phase portrait and the potential energy curve is found in the experiment.This is the first time that a phase portrait for stiffness hardening of an L-shaped beam has been found experimentally.These results can be applied to analysis of new piezoelectric power generation structures.

Experimental Investigation of Performance Characteristics of PZT-5A with Application to Fault Diagnosis

In the previous couple of decades,techniques to reap energy and empower low voltage electronic devices have received outstanding attention.Most of the methods based on the piezoelectric effect to harvest the energy from ambient vibrations have been revolutionized.There’s an absence of experiment-based investigation which incorporates the microstructure analysis and crystal morphology of those energy harvest home materials.Moreover,the impact of variable mechanical and thermal load conditions has seldom been studied within the previous literature to utilize the effectiveness of those materials in several practical applications like structural health monitoring(SHM),etc.In the proposed research work,scanning electron microscope(SEM)and energy dispersive x-ray(EDX)analysis are performed to examine the inside crystal morphology of PZT-5A and ensure the quality of the piezoelectric ceramic.Further,the performance of piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvester has been investigated in the second phase of current research work under the variable mechanical and thermal load conditions through a regular series of experiments.It’s been found that the output voltage of piezoelectric sensors will increase by increasing the applied load,whereas a decreasing trend in output voltage is noticed by increasing the applied temperature,resistance and frequency.Within the third part,a measuring setup is developed in the laboratory to further investigate the effectiveness of PZT-5A in practical applications such as electromechanical impedance(EMI)based structural health monitoring under the controlled heating environment.Therefore,this analysis not only evaluates the performance of PZT sensors under the variable operating conditions but also encourages developing a temperature compensation approach in EMI-based SHM.

Power Source for Wireless Sensors in Pipes

In this paper, we present investigations on energy harvesters for wireless sensors inside pipes. The harvesters are of flexible piezoelectric PVDF （Poly-Vinylidene-Di-Fluoride） and aluminum-foils as electrodes. The layers were stacked alternating on each other and wound to a spool. An LDPE （low-density polyethylene）-film wraps the spool and prevents the inflow of liquids. A ring shaped bluff body was placed inside the pipe to induce turbulence in the fluid stream. As the harvesters have been arranged downstream of the bluffbody, they were forced to oscillate independent of the media. This led to a polarization and a separation of electrical charges. Experiments were carried out in a wind channel as well as in a water pipe. In air, the spool oscillates with a frequency of about 30 Hz, at a wind speed of about 7 m/s. A voltage of about 4 V （peak-peak） was measured. This delivers in case of impedance adjustment power values of about 0.54 p.W. In water, oscillation starts at a speed above 0.6 m/s. The average oscillation frequency is about 18 Hz. At a velocity of 0.74 m/s, a peak-peak-voltage up to about 2.3 V was found. In case of impedance adjustment, the power was about 0.33 μW. This power is stored in a capacitor. Assuming a data transmission unit consumes about 0.2 mWs during one operational period of I s, the duty cycle can be calculated to about 6.2 min for air harvesting and 10.1 min for harvesting in water.

Low frequency wide bandwidth MEMS energy harvester based on spiral-shaped PVDF cantilever

In this paper,a piezoelectric energy harvester based on spiral-shaped polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)cantilever is designed and fabricated for harvesting low frequency vibration energy in the environment.In this design,the spiral-shaped PVDF cantilever is major for lowering the resonant frequency by increasing the length of the cantilever;Copper and silicon proof masses on both sides are working on further decreasing the resonant frequency and widen its bandwidth.Due to the high flexibility of the PVDF cantilever,this device is extremely sensitive to vibration and can harvest weak vibration energy.Both simulation and experimental results have approved that this device can operate at very low frequency which is about 20 Hz and can effectively harvest energy from 15–50 Hz.The peak of the output voltage can reach 1.8 V with the acceleration of 0.2 g.This is a promising harvester for powering the wireless sensors in the future.