Vision Analysis of the Influence of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting on Vibration Damping of a Cantilever Beam

Dariusz Grzybek,Andrzej Sioma

doi:10.3390/en14217168

Abstract

A cantilever beam, manufactured from a steel-carrying substrate and two patches of Macro Fiber Composite of P2 type, was a subject of laboratory research. MFC patches were glued on both sides of the carrying substrate and were parallelly connected. An experimental determination of an optimal resistance for both energy harvesting and vibration passive damping of the cantilever beam was the purpose of the conducted laboratory research. The research contained 10 experiments in which courses of the energy-harvesting process and resistive passive damping of vibration were estimated. Energy harvesting was estimated by measurements of the generated current for the given load-resistance values. Resistive passive damping of vibration was assessed by using a vision method that enabled the displacements’ measurements of 10 selected points in the beam structure for the given shunt-resistance values. Values of both load resistance and shunt resistance were chosen on the basis of analytically calculated optimal load resistance and optimal shunt resistance. On the basis of the conducted experiments, the resistance range for which both the energy-harvesting process and the vibration-damping process are most effective was determined.

Highlights

The direct piezoelectric effect, which occurs in piezoelectric materials, allows a conversion of mechanical energy into electric energy
The values of resistance were selected in the range from value, which was close to the calculated optimal shunt resistance (Rsopt ) to value, which was close to the calculated optimal load resistance (Rlopt )
For the rest of the resistance range, from the cross point of nSEH and nRSD curves to the optimal load resistance, the efficiencies of energy harvesting and vibration passive damping were different, e.g., for resistance, it equaled 50 kΩ efficiencies that were correspondingly equal to 98.85% and Piezoelectric energy harvesting and vibration shunt damping of a cantilever beam were tested in laboratory research

Summary

Introduction

The direct piezoelectric effect, which occurs in piezoelectric materials, allows a conversion of mechanical energy into electric energy. Energy harvesting from mechanical vibration is most often realized by the use of a prismatic cantilever beam with a rectangular cross-section [1]. Such a beam is composed from two parts: a piezoelectric material, e.g., ceramics [2], composites [3], and polymers [4], and a carrying substrate, e.g., steel, brass, and aluminum. SEH is developed by the adding of a parallel- or series-connected subsystem, consisting of an inductor and an electronic switch. Such an interface is called a synchronized switching harvesting with inductor (SSHI) [9]. Regardless of the connection, the optimal resistive load depends on two factors: a natural frequency of the cantilever beam and a piezoelectric capacity

Methods

Results

Conclusion