Tapered piezoelectric devices for vibration energy harvesting

Abstract

The use of cantilevered piezoelectric bimorphs under transversal excitations is an area of research well reported in literature. These devices may be tapered into triangular geometries in order to enhance axial strain over the surfaces of the device for more reliable operation. This study reports the comparison of rectangular and triangular cantilevered bimorphs of equal volume and matching resonance frequency, where it is seen that tapering geometry enhances the electromechanical coupling coefficient, which may not necessarily be the only parameter involved in enhancing power output. This is indicated in the case of a triangular cantilevered device without a proof mass, which with increased coupling is unable to outperform a rectangular device. The addition of a nominal proof mass on a rectangular and triangular device increases not only the electromechanical coupling coefficient, but also increases the damping ratio in the devices. This effect is more pronounced in the case of triangular bimorphs, and a 40% improvement in power output is seen. Therefore, these studies provides insights into the changing parameters with changing shapes, which may provide better optimization parameters for improving piezoelectric energy harvesting from cantilevered devices.