A novel design of a map-tuning piezoelectric vibration energy harvester

In this paper, a new design of a self-tuning bimorph PZT beam for maximum vibration energy harvesting is introduced. As is well known, a PZT beam harvester captures the most energy as it resonates with the ambient vibration. The ambient excitation frequency varies in nature so that proper tracking of the ambient frequency and adjusting the harvester's resonance frequency accordingly would assure the most energy retrieved. The harvester introduced in the paper is composed of an elastic beam partially covered with two-sided PZT patches, the same as most others, but the method of tuning its resonance frequency is novel. A movable intermediate rigid support is attached to the beam and by adjusting the support's position according to the sensed ambient frequency, the beam's resonance frequency will coincide with the ambient frequency such that the harvested vibration energy is maximized. The theoretical analysis employs Hamilton's principle, the assumed-mode method, and the receptance method. Numerical results are obtained and compared with the experimental ones. They show excellent agreement in a frequency versus support's position chart. The most significant feature is that there can be up to +/- 35% of resonance frequency tunability. This achievement provides substantial advantages in power-harvesting applications. An experiment for base excitation to simulate the ambient vibration is setup as well and the results show that as little as 5% excitation frequency variation would cause more than 70% output voltage drop if there were no tuning ability. The novel design could significantly enhance the harvested energy in a short duration of time.