Design and finite element analysis of varying width piezoelectric cantilever beam to harvest energy

Abstract

The main aim of this work is to enhance the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy by using developed 3D finite element analysis of varying width piezoelectric cantilever energy harvester designed using block pulse functions (BPFs). The piezoelectric cantilever beam is subjected to harmonic base excitation by applying vertical acceleration of 0.2g through body load. The width of the cantilever beam is distributed at three equal lengths as discretized linear function by applying the block pulse functions. Initial study indicate that piezoelectric cantilever composed of varying width as discretized linear function using block pulse functions (BPFs) is found to generate approximately 2.5 times the voltage per unit base acceleration as generated by rectangular piezoelectric cantilever for same volume of substrate and piezoelectric material and for the same natural frequency. Further harmonic analysis is performed on the piezoelectric cantilever beam designed using BPFs to figure parameters like charge, voltage and energy produced by a unimorph varying width piezoelectric cantilever beam using Comsol Multiphysics.