Improving Output Power of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters using Multilayer Structures

Abstract

This paper studies the feasibility of increasing the output power of vibration piezoelectric energy harvesters using multilayer structures. In this study, single-layer, double-layer and triple-layer devices with the same resonant frequency were compared. Two design cases were studied-: In the first case, the overall thickness of all PZT layers is fixed and each PZT layer has the same thickness. In the second case, the thickness of one PZT layer is fixed. The output power of these generators was studied and compared for the conditions where all the PZT layers were connected in parallel and in series. In all cases, the multilayer structure increased the output power over the single layer structure in piezoelectric energy harvesting.