Mathematical modeling and parameter optimization of a stacked piezoelectric energy harvester based on water pressure pulsation

Abstract

A stacked piezoelectric energy harvester is designed to capture the pressure pulsation in water hydraulic system, and a mathematical model is established to study the energy harvesting performance. The model considers two types of pulsation pressure: standard and double sinusoidal pressure as inputs. The effect of pressure amplitude on energy harvesting performance is studied at different resistances, as well as its parameter optimization. The results show that the theoretical voltage and average power using double sinusoidal pressure as the pressure input are consistent with experimental results, particularly for high pressure pulsation rate. Additionally, the voltage increases with increasing pressure amplitude, and the harmonic frequency amplitude enhances nonlinearity. At lower resistance, the harmonic frequency amplitude has a more significant influence on energy harvesting performance than the fundamental frequency amplitude, but they have similar effects at higher resistance. Furthermore, the optimal resistance to obtain maximum average power initially increases and subsequently stabilizes as the fundamental frequency amplitude increases, but an increase in harmonic frequency amplitude results in decreased optimal resistance. This work provides ideas for the design, modeling and optimization of stacked piezoelectric energy harvester for pressure pulsation in hydraulic system.