A two-dimensional energy harvester with radially distributed piezoelectric array for vibration with arbitrary in-plane directions

Abstract

Piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters have attracted much attention in the last decades due to their great potential application in powering various ultra-low-power sensors/actuators in the ambient environment. Many works have been presented to improve the energy conversion efficiency and broaden the operating bandwidth. One purpose of these studies is to harvest vibration energy with a specific excitation direction. However, a vibration source in a practical environment may from different directions. In this article, a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester with the radially distributed piezoelectric array is proposed to scavenge two-dimensional vibration energy. Meanwhile, we introduce a new concept, named angle bandwidth, to describe the ability of harvesting two-dimensional vibration energy. The theoretical analysis and the simulation results indicate that this harvester can scavenge vibration energy with arbitrary in-plane directions using the arc-shaped radially distributed piezoelectric array on a flexible cylinder. The experimental results show that this new design has large angle bandwidth, and the angle bandwidth increases from 87.5° to 106.3° when increasing the number of polyvinylidene fluoride elements from one to four. Also, the angle bandwidth of piezoelectric array in series is always larger than that in parallel. Overall, the present two-dimensional piezoelectric vibration energy harvester has the potential for a higher multi-directional vibration energy harvesting efficiency than a traditional cantilever-shaped piezoelectric vibration energy harvester. It also can be used as a self-powered vibration direction sensor.

Keywords

Piezoelectric vibration energy harvester two-dimensional vibration piezoelectric array of radial distribution angle bandwidth

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ajitsaria

Choe

Shen

et al . (2007) Modeling and analysis of a bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam for voltage generation. Smart Materials Structures 16(2): 447–454.

Andò

Baglio

Maiorca

et al . (2013) Analysis of two dimensional, wide-band, bistable vibration energy harvester. Sensors and Actuators A—Physical 202(11): 176–182.

Barton

DAW

Burrow

Clare

(2009) Energy harvesting from vibrations with a nonlinear oscillator. Journal of Vibration and Acoustics—Transactions of the ASME 132: 427–436.

Fan

Chang

Chao

et al . (2015) Design and development of a multipurpose piezoelectric energy harvester. Energy Conversion and Management 96: 430–439.

Johnson

Charnegie

Clark

et al . (2006) Energy harvesting from mechanical vibrations using piezoelectric cantilever beams. Smart Materials Structures 6169: 81–92.

Jung

Song

Hong

et al . (2015) Design and optimization of piezoelectric impact-based micro wind energy harvester for wireless sensor network. Sensors and Actuators A—Physical 222: 314–321.

Liu

Tay

Quan

et al . (2011) Piezoelectric MEMS energy harvester for low-frequency vibrations with wideband operation range and steadily increased output power. Journal Microelectromechanical Systems 20(5): 1131–1142.

Mehdizadeh

Ganji

(2017) Design and simulation of small size MEMS bimaterial cantilever solar cell using piezoelectric layer. Microsystem Technologies 23(12): 5849–5854.

Mei

(2015) Double-wall piezoelectric cylindrical energy harvester. Sensors and Actuators A—Physical 233: 405–413.

10.

Nguyen

Halvorsen

Jensen

et al . (2010) Fabrication and characterization of a wideband MEMS energy harvester utilizing nonlinear springs. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering 20(20): 125009.

11.

Reilly

Miller

Fain

et al . (2009) A study of ambient vibrations for piezoelectric energy conversion. In: Proceedings of the power MEMS, Washington, DC, 1–4 December, pp. 312–315.

12.

Tao

Tang

et al . (2018) Investigation of multimodal electret-based MEMS energy harvester with impact-induced nonlinearity. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 27(2): 276–288.

13.

Tvedt

LGW

Nguyen

Halvorsen

(2010) Nonlinear behavior of an electrostatic energy harvester under wide- and narrowband excitation. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 19(2): 305–316.

14.

Wang

(2015) ZnO thin film piezoelectric MEMS vibration energy harvesters with two piezoelectric elements for higher output performance. Review of Scientific Instruments 86(7): 1131–1144.

15.

Wang

Liu

Ding

et al . (2018) Complementary electromagnetic-triboelectric active sensor for detecting multiple mechanical triggering. Advanced Functional Materials 28(11): 1705808.

16.

Wang

Pan

Wang

et al . (2018) An ultra-low-friction triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid nanogenerator for rotation energy harvesting and self-powered wind speed sensor. ACS Nano 12(9): 9433–9440.

17.

Wang

Tanaka

Sugiyama

et al . (2009) A micro electromagnetic low level vibration energy harvester based on MEMS technology. Microsystem Technologies 15(6): 941–951.

18.

Wang

Xia

et al . (2016) A piezoelectric vibration energy harvester using a sliding and rotating mass ring for broadband vibration. Nanotechnology and Precision Engineering 14: 251–255.

19.

Wang

Chen

Wang

et al . (2017) A frequency and bandwidth tunable piezoelectric vibration energy harvester using multiple nonlinear techniques. Applied Energy 190: 368–375.

20.

Wang

(2013) Triboelectric nanogenerators as new energy technology for self-powered systems and as active mechanical and chemical sensors. ACS Nano 7(11): 9533–9557.

21.

Qiu

Zhou

et al . (2018) A piezoelectric spring pendulum oscillator used for multi-directional and ultra-low frequency vibration energy harvesting. Applied Energy 231: 600–614.

22.

Xiong

Tang

Mace

(2018) A comprehensive study of 2:1 internal-resonance-based piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting. Nonlinear Dynamics 91(3): 1817–1834.

23.

Tang

(2015) Multi-directional energy harvesting by piezoelectric cantilever-pendulum with internal resonance. Applied Physics Letters 107(21): 197–205.

24.

Yang

Chen

Liu

et al . (2014) Triboelectrification-based organic film nanogenerator for acoustic energy harvesting and self-powered active acoustic sensing. Acs Nano 8(3): 2649–2657.

25.

Yang

Soh

(2015) Experiment and modeling of a two-dimensional piezoelectric energy harvester. Smart Materials Structures 24(12): 125011.

26.

Yang

Shi

Yao

et al . (2018) A laterally driven MEMS inertial switch with double-layer suspended springs for improving single-axis sensitivity. IEEE Transactions on Components Packaging and Manufacturing Technology 8(10): 1845–1854.

27.

Zhu

Beeby

Tudor

et al . (2013) Increasing output power of electromagnetic vibration energy harvesters using improved Halbach arrays. Sensors and Actuators A—Physical 203(12): 11–19.

28.

Lin

Wang

et al . (2015) Triboelectric-pyroelectric-piezoelectric hybrid cell for high-efficiency energy-harvesting and self-powered sensing. Advanced Materials 27(14): 2340–2347.