Abstract
Energy harvesting devices based on a piezoelectric material attached to asymmetric bistable laminate plates have been shown to exhibit high levels of power extraction over a wide range of frequencies. This paper optimizes for the design of bistable composites combined with piezoelectrics for energy harvesting applications. The electrical energy generated during state-change, or “snap-through,” is maximized through variation in ply thicknesses and rectangular laminate edge lengths. The design is constrained by a bistability constraint and limits on both the magnitude of deflection and the force required for the reversible actuation. Optimum solutions are obtained for differing numbers of plies and the numerical investigation results are discussed.
Highlights
Energy harvesting which converts ambient mechanical vibrations into electrical energy is an area of considerable research interest and has received extensive attention in the past decade
In order to improve the efficiency of vibrational energy harvesters, recent work has focused on exploiting nonlinearity for broadband energy harvesting
When a flexible piezoelectric material is attached to the laminate surface and the structure is repeatedly actuated between the stable states, the large shape changes have the potential to generate electrical energy by the direct piezoelectric effect
Summary
Energy harvesting which converts ambient mechanical vibrations into electrical energy is an area of considerable research interest and has received extensive attention in the past decade. Ambient vibrations generally exhibit multiple time-dependent frequencies which can include components at relatively low frequencies This can make typical linear systems inefficient or unsuitable; if the resonant frequency of the device is higher than the frequency range of the vibrations it is attempting to harvest. An end magnet on the oscillating cantilever interacts with oppositely poled stationary magnets, which induces softening or hardening into the system and allows the resonance frequency to be tuned This technique was shown to outperform linear systems when excited by varying frequencies. An alternative method has been recently found where a piezoelectric element is attached to bistable laminate plates with 2n plies and a total (T) layup of [0n/90n]T to induce large amplitude oscillations [3] Such harvesting structures have been shown to exhibit high levels of power extraction over a wide range of frequencies.
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