Abstract
The results of numerical and experimental investigation of trapezoidal cantilevers with irregular cross-sections are presented in this paper. Modifications of the cross-section were made in order to increase strain and improve its distribution in the piezo ceramic layer of a cantilever. The proposed modifications allowed improving the energy conversion coefficient and increasing the power density. The numerical investigation revealed that modifications have a positive influence on strain and its distribution characteristics. Moreover, the electrical characteristics of piezoelectric cantilevers were investigated by employing a numerical model. The analysis of the results revealed that modifications of the cross-section have positively affected the electrical outputs of the cantilevers. The results of the numerical investigation were validated by experimental investigation. Experimental investigation showed that output voltage density was increased by 9.9%, output current density by 6.9% and power density by more than three-times compared with a conventional cantilever.
Highlights
The power supply for wireless sensors and low power electronics is an important research topic driven by the disadvantages of conventional power supply methods, such as short life time, high cost of service and environmental pollution [1,2]
The numerical investigation revealed that the strain and electrical characteristics of the piezoelectric cantilevers depend on the cross-section design
The differences between the natural frequency obtained during numerical modeling and experimental measurement is up to 17.69%
Summary
The power supply for wireless sensors and low power electronics is an important research topic driven by the disadvantages of conventional power supply methods, such as short life time, high cost of service and environmental pollution [1,2]. This paper provides the results of numerical and experimental research on the piezoelectric trapezoidal cantilever beams with an irregular design of the cross-section area. The goal of the modifications was to increase strain and its distribution at the piezo ceramic layer and, as a result to, improve the power density of the energy harvesting system based on trapezoidal cantilevers. One of the ways to obtain that is to change the strain function, so that it would be a constant or close to the constant along the length of the piezo ceramic layer Such a strain function can be obtained by modifications of the cross-section area, modifications of the second moment of inertia in the cantilever. Trapezoidal cantilever beams with an irregular cross-section are proposed and analyzed It consists of a bronze plate, a piezo ceramic plate and a seismic mass.
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