Piezoelectric materials for bistable energy harvester: A comparative study

This paper deals with the potential of various lead-free piezoelectric materials for energy harvesting. The performance of these materials is simulated for unimorph bistable piezoelectric energy harvester. The finite element method considering first-order shear deformation theory is used to model the system. The energy harvesting potential of bistable system (Non-linear) is compared with its linear counterpart. The results depict that the mean power density is almost 100% higher in case of bistable system. K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃-LiSbO₃ (KNN-LS) family exhibited better performance than the conventional lead-based piezoelectric material lead zirconate titanate (PZT). The mean power density of K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃-LiSbO₃-CaTiO₃ (2 wt.%) is reported to be 65% higher than PZT.     

Numerical and experimental study of bistable piezoelectric energy harvester

Piezoelectric energy harvesting from mechanical vibrations is a reliable technology to charge low power electronic equipment. It has been reported in the literature that low frequency broadband vibrations cannot be harvested effectively using linear piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH). In this paper a bistable nonlinear PEH with two distinct energy wells generated using repulsive magnetic interactions between a cantilever magnetic proof mass and an external magnet is considered. It has been modeled using finite element method and validated with experimental results. Experimental results verify that, for our study, distance between magnetic proof mass and external magnet of 1.32 T flux density should be less than or equal to 8.5?mm for maintaining bistability. This distance also affects to the resonance frequency of harvester. Maximum efficiency of the harvester has been noticed at 8.5mm. Further it has been shown experimentally that the bistable nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvester takes almost half of the time taken by its linear counterpart to charge a 20 mAh battery.     

宽频激励下双稳态压电振动发电机供电能力分析

为了探讨双稳态压电振动发电机在宽频激励下的供电能力问题,建立了宽频激励下双稳态压电振动发电机系统的动力学模型,仿真了双稳态压电振动发电机系统的输出响应特性和不同运动状态的输出电压特性,研究了双稳态压电振动发电机系统运行在高能量轨道上的激励条件,据此优化双稳态压电振动发电机结构参数,并对传感器网络节点的用电需求和双稳态压电振动发电机的供电能力进行分析。仿真和实验结果表明:双稳态压电振动发电机在宽频激励下,其输出平均功率为3.8 m W,能够满足实际振动环境下无线传感器网络节点的用电需求。     

压电式振动能量采集电源管理电路分析

压电式振动能量采集的应用十分广泛,在许多能量采集装置中都采用压电元件实现能量转换。分析了振动能量采集装置中压电元件采集的能量输出管理电路,包括标准能量采集电路、DC-DC变换的优化标准能量采集电路、同步电荷提取电路、电感同步开关采集电路和双同步开关采集电路等五种电源管理电路的原理,比较了它们的能量采集输出效率,指出了各种电源管理电路的特点和适用条件。     

A simple and powerful analytical model for MEMS piezoelectric multimorphs

We have developed an analytical model for use in design and modelling of piezoelectric MEMS devices. The model allows for incorporation of any number of device material layers in a multimorph structure including piezoelectric materials. The resulting lumped circuit model fully incorporates the electro-mechanical coupling effects in the piezoelectric layers as well as electrical or mechanical loading of the device structure. Since the model is analytic, and only requires the specification of well-defined material properties, it allows for fast and interactive modelling of a multitude of MEMS device structures incorporating piezoelectric materials. We will demonstrate the capability of the model by presenting results from fitting the model to impedance measurements performed on cantilever structures. This allows for extraction of device and material parameters that are difficult to obtain by other means, such as the piezoelectric coefficient and the mechanical quality factor.     

应用于压电能量源的高效同步电容开关能量收集芯片设计

针对压电能量源,提出了一种具有压电能量源极性判定的高效改进型单脉冲序列可配置能量收集接口电路芯片。该芯片通过采用同步电容开关接口电路,实现了在压电能量源内部电流源过零时的电荷再分享,将压电能量源内部电容上的电荷转移至外部电容,再通过开关控制,实现外部电容上的电荷翻转,最后将翻转后的电荷输送回压电能量源内部电容。该方法避免了压电能量源内部电容上存储的电荷被内部电流源过零后中和而造成的能量损失,实现了较高的能量俘获效率。通过采用0.18 μm标准CMOS工艺完成电路和版图设计,芯片版图有效面积仅需0.06 mm²。仿真结果显示：在压电能量源开路电压为2.8 V时,能够实现最高81.8%的电压翻转效率,与标准的全桥整流结构压电接口电路相比较,所提出的结构在能量俘获能力方面实现了最大8.1倍的提升。     

Power output estimation and experimental validation for piezoelectric energy harvesting systems

Many modern devices especially for ubiquitous computing or wireless sensor networks need a long life energy source. Batteries or accumulators are often an insufficient solution. Low frequency vibrations can be found in the most technical facilities or even in the human movements. Even while these vibrations are neither wanted nor used in the most times, they enable us to generate electrical energy. Piezoelectric flexural transducers are a promising choice for utilizing the vibrations for energy harvesting. There are two major influences on the amount of generated energy. First there is the frequency behavior of the piezoelectric transducers, for optimal power output the transducer should be driven in resonance. Second, the energy output is highly dependent on the electrical load of the connected application. Both circumstances, working frequency and electrical load, typically are boundary conditions for the development of the generator. Therefore, it is necessary to handpick the type of piezoelectric elements. To meet the requirements of development engineers, a model based design method for energy harvesting systems is needed. As a first step towards such a method, this work proposes a model for the estimations of the power output of piezoelectric flexural transducers. For the validation of this model an experiment is described in detail. The results of the model and the experiments are compared.     

压电振动能量收集系统中二极管整流电路的RC等效模型分析

为了方便分析压电振动能量收集系统的电气特性,基于等效前后压电能量收集系统输出功率相同的原则,提出了将整流器和滤波电容等效为RC电路的方法。分别分析了全波整流、倍压整流电路的电学特性,推导了RC等效电路中等效电阻和电容的计算表达式,并仿真分析了负载等效前后的功率变化曲线。分析结果表明,整流器和滤波电容等效为RC电路的方法是可行的。     

能量回馈型超声波电机定子振动特性有限元分析与特性测试

提出一种集精密驱动和振动能量采集于一体的新型多功能压电振动电机——能量回馈型超声波电机,设计了电机夹心式内锥面压电定子,建立了电机压电定子的有限元模型,仿真分析定子振动特性和能量采集输出特性;研制电机原理样机,并对电机进行阻抗和能量采集特性测试与分析。研究结果为工作在极端封闭环境中的微型机器人系统提供一种集驱动与供电一体化的机电器件。     

压电式振动能量采集接口电路的研究进展

压电式振动能量采集技术是一种将环境中的振动能量转换为电能并为微电子系统供电的技术。文章介绍了压电式振动能量采集接口电路的研究现状,对标准能量采集电路、同步电荷提取电路、同步开关电感电路、无电感整流等接口电路的工作原理进行了介绍,详细研究了当前国内外研究人员对这些接口电路的改进,对这些改进的接口电路的特点、优势、效率、能耗、实用性等都做了分析。并对压电式振动能量采集接口电路向宽频化、集成化发展方向做了分析。     

Energy harvesting MEMS device based on thin film piezoelectric cantilevers

A thin film lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT), energy harvesting MEMS device is developed to enable self-supportive sensors for in-service integrity monitoring of large social and environmental infrastructures at remote locations. It is designed to resonate at specific frequencies of an external vibrational energy source, thereby creating electrical energy via the piezoelectric effect. Our cantilever device has a PZT/SiN_x bimorph structure with a proof mass added to the end. The Pt/Ti top electrode is patterned into an interdigitated shape on top of the sol-gel-spin coated PZT thin film in order to employ the d ₃₃ mode. The base-shaking experiment at the first resonant frequency of the cantilever (170 × 260 μm) generates 1 μW of continuous electrical power to a 5.2 MΩ resistive load at 2.4 V DC. The effect of proof mass, beam shape and damping on the power generating performance are modeled to provide a design guideline for maximum power harvesting from environmentally available low frequency vibrations. A spiral cantilever is designed to achieve compactness, low resonant frequency and minimum damping coefficient, simultaneously.     

Multilayer piezoelectric energy scavenger for large current generation

Piezoelectric energy harvesting system is promising to the energy source of wireless sensor nodes for ubiquitous sensor networks. The piezoelectric material has been usually considered as a high voltage and low current source. When charging current into the thin film battery or supercapacitor, a larger current is needed to shorten the charging time. In order to increase the current in the piezoelectric energy harvesting, multilayer ceramics were fabricated. N-layer multilayer ceramics decreased the voltage but increased the current N times. The impedance of the multilayer ceramics are matched to 1 kΩ which is similar to the impedance of general electrical devices. The multilayer piezoelectric generator could be directly employed for electrical device without the additional electrical circuit to improve efficiency.     

用于自供能传感器的环境能量源研究

采集环境中的能量,实现传感器的自供电,可解决无线传感器携带电池能量有限的问题。自供能传感器能否从环境中获得充足的能量,与环境中的能量源密切相关。介绍了环境中常见能量源转换成电能的原理,并描述了这些能量源的特点、研究现状以及各自的优缺点,同时给出了不同能量源的适用范围,可作为自供能传感器采集环境能量时的参考。     

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting under High Pre-Stressed Cyclic Vibrations

Cymbal transducers have been found as a promising structure for piezoelectric energy harvesting under high force (∼ 100 N) at cyclic conditions (∼ 100–200 Hz). The thicker steel cap enhances the endurance of the ceramic to sustain higher ac loads along with stress amplification. This study reports the performance of the cymbal transducer under ac force of 70 N with a pre-stress load of 67 N at 100 Hz frequency. At this frequency and force level, 52 mW power was generated from a cymbal measured across a 400 kΩ resistor. The ceramic diameter was fixed at 29 mm and various thicknesses were experimented to optimize the performance. The results showed that the PZT ceramic of 1 mm thickness provided the highest power output with 0.4 mm endcap. In order to accommodate such high dynamic pressure the transducer and cap materials were modified and it was found that the higher piezoelectric voltage constant ceramic provided the higher output power. Electrical output power as a function of applied ac stress magnitude was also computed using FEM analysis and the results were found to be functionally coherent with experiment. This study clearly demonstrated the feasibility of using piezoelectric transducers for harvesting energy from high magnitude vibration sources such as automobile.     

A study of flexible piezoelectric generators by sputtering ZnO thin film on PET substrate

Abstract

Flexible technology has recently received much attention in the field of flexible sensors, wearable electronic devices, flexible transparent displays, and energy harvesters. Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film is the preferred material for use in flexible devices due to its environmental friendliness, high electrical performance and low synthesis temperature. In addition, ZnO possesses a non-centrosymmetric crystal structure, causing a piezoelectric effect in the material. This work presents the fabrication of flexible piezoelectric generators using the deposition of ZnO on a PET substrate using sputtering techniques. The fabricated flexible generators are capable of generating an output power of 14 µW through an optimal resistive load of 750 kΩ. An output voltage of 2.00 Vp and a current of 150 μA measured across a 750 kΩ resistor were subsequently obtained.     

Fabrication and characterization of flexible piezoelectric composites with natural rubber matrix

Abstract

This work aims to fabricate and characterize flexible piezoelectric composites with natural rubber (NR) matrix. Different amounts of Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.65Ti_0.35O₃ (PMNT) powders were added in NR matrices. Porosity, tensile strength and percent elongation at break of composites tended to decrease with increasing PMNT content. The dielectric constant of the NR materials was found to be 3.5. It was raised up to 4.2, 5.0, 4.5, 4.8 and 5.1 when 60, 80, 100, 120 and 150 phr PMNT powders were added. However, dielectric loss of NR materials did not change with PMNT additions. Among this composite system, the NR/100PMNT composite showed the best piezoelectric properties, which its output voltage, piezoelectric coefficient (d₃₃) and piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g₃₃) values were equal to 1.61 V, 2.1?×?10^?4 pC/N and 5.4?×?10^?6 V?m/N, respectively. This composition composite is a promising material suitable for further improvement to be used as piezoelectric generators in energy harvesting applications.     

复合式动能采集器的多自由度宽频带设计优化

提出了一种多自由度宽频带压电 磁电复合式动能采集器,该动能采集器可以在多方向采集动能,有效地工作于较宽的频带,且可以同时以压电和磁电方式收集动能,大大提高了动能采集效率。介绍了复合式动能采集器的结构;分析和优化了采集器的拾振系统,从理论上验证了采集器的多自由度和宽频带的特性;介绍了磁电换能系统。研究结果表明,采集器在不同的工作频率下出现了两个振动峰值,验证了采集器的宽频带动能采集特性。通过实验测试进一步得出,与压电或磁电换能系统各自的输出性能相比,压电 磁电复合式换能系统的总体输出性能有所提高。     

Advances in energy harvesting using low profile piezoelectric transducers

The vast reduction in the size and power consumption of sensors and CMOS circuitry has led to a focused research effort on the on-board power sources which can replace the batteries. The concern with batteries has been that they must always be charged before use. Similarly, the sensors and data acquisition components in distributed networks require centralized energy sources for their operation. In some applications such as sensors for structural health monitoring in remote locations, geographically inaccessible temperature or humidity sensors, the battery charging or replacement operations can be tedious and expensive. Logically, the emphasis in such cases has been on developing the on-site generators that can transform any available form of energy at the location into electrical energy. Piezoelectric energy harvesting has emerged as one of the prime methods for transforming mechanical energy into electric energy. This review article provides a comprehensive coverage of the recent developments in the area of piezoelectric energy harvesting using low profile transducers and provides the results for various energy harvesting prototype devices. A brief discussion is also presented on the selection of the piezoelectric materials for on and off resonance applications. Analytical models reported in literature to describe the efficiency and power magnitude of the energy harvesting process are analyzed.

Enhanced piezoelectric energy harvester performance using magnetic force and thermal energy

One possible approach of improving the performance of energy harvesters is to use energy harvester with an external magnetic force to create a nonlinear coupling system. In this work, we report experimental results of a single piezoelectric cantilever beam (PCB) with tip mass or conventional piezoelectric energy harvester (CPEH), and the effect of applying an external magnetic force. The output voltage and power at optimal resistance was 7.62 V and 0.62 mW, respectively, at the resonance frequency of approximately 11 Hz of a CPEH. Also, the output voltage and average power at optimal resistance was 8.56 V and 0.44 mW, respectively, at resonance frequency of 7 Hz of a PCB with fixed opposing magnet. Furthermore, the output voltage and average power at optimal resistance was 13.31 V and 1.77 mW, respectively, at resonance frequency of 11 Hz of a PCB with opposing magnet attached at a second cantilever. In addition, comparison between the experimental results of all different configurations showed a reasonable enhancement of performance of energy harvester when an external magnetic force added over the main PCB. Finally, the performance of a multisource energy harvester with magnetic, thermal and mechanical sources is also presented in this study. In this case, it is demonstrated that increase in output voltage with temperature gradient under effect of magnetic force; the results of 2^nd and 3^rd model showed 44% and 99% enhancement of its original output voltage value at 1.2 °C and 2.7 °C temperature difference, respectively.     

Sustainable micro-power circuit for piezoelectric energy harvesting tile

Piezoelectric energy harvesting tiles are used for converting the power of pedestrian footsteps in to electricity and can be used at the micro- and milli-watt level for storage and powering electronics devices. This paper effectively combines the systems and techniques for developing a sustainable circuit with the self-starting and self-power functions to efficiently store energy and drive low power consumption electronic devices from the piezoelectric energy harvester tile. The main part of the system is 80% efficient impedance matching converter with the self-starting and battery-less operation. The presented circuit has an overall efficiency of 63% and can power a wireless sensor node to transmit the information wirelessly.