Investigations on Piezo Active Layer of Low Frequency Cantilever Structured Vibration Energy Harvester for Cordless Cranial Drill

Abstract

Energy harvesting technology deals with the conversion of any form of energy that gets disseminated in the environment into useful and much more effective electrical energy. These energy harvesters employ various conversion strategies based on the type of dissipated energy. Mechanical energy being the most wasted and abundantly available in nature has attracted the most attention of researchers. Cantilever shaped piezoelectric energy harvesters owing to its flexibility and simplicity are extensively used for energy harvesting purposes [1]. In this paper, we aim to conduct an investigation on possible materials for an active layer of piezoelectric generator which will be used for self-powering Cranial drill [2]. COMSOL Multiphysics software is used in this work to build and analyze piezoelectric energy harvesters using the following piezoelectric materials: Lead Zirconium Titanate (PZT-5A), Barium Titanate (BaTiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> (POLED), BaTiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> ), and Lithium Niobate (LiNbO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> ) assembled on two different electrodes namely, Gold (Au) and Copper (Cu) [3]. Studies on frequency response, acceleration dependence, and load dependence were performed on these energy harvesters. Among all other combinations, Barium Titanate with gold or copper substrate displayed higher voltage output and electrical output power in terms of analyzing-mechanical input power, electrical output power at optimal resonant frequency.