Preparation and Performance of a Box-Type Bending Piezoelectric Transducer

Abstract

Pavement-based piezoelectric power-generation technology converts mechanical energy generated by traffic loads into electricity by embedding piezoelectric transducers in the pavement. However, existing piezoelectric transducer structures are mostly the direct-impact type and the piezoelectric ceramic materials can be easily damaged. To reduce the risk of damage, a box-type bending piezoelectric energy transducer was designed and prepared in this study. The transducer is composed of 27 fixed piezoelectric sheets connected at both ends in parallel. The external casing uses a box-type structure with upper, middle and lower components. Under typical traffic load conditions, an excitation frequency of 10 Hz and displacement of 2 mm, the maximum output voltage was 30.17 V, the maximum output current was 10.01 mA and the maximum output power was 303.4 mW under load resistance of 3 kΩ. The output power of the transducer increases with loading frequency and displacement. Finally, the output power of the proposed transducer is much higher than that of existing transducers. This new piezoelectric transducer has good prospects for use in energy-generating pavement engineering applications.