Analysis of Variable Section Piezoelectric Harvester

Abstract

This paper first presents an analytical model for investigating the vibration performance of a thin curved laminated piezoelectric beam with variable curvatures and transverse sections. This kind of beam is widely used for the MEMS piezoelectric vibration energy harvester. The curved thin beam theory with bisymmetric section, here rectangular section used, is employed to explore the bending and twisting coupling vibration characteristics. In order to study the vibration properties with concentrated load, the effects of the tip proof mass isnt used. The paper also shows that the adoption of ANSYS software to carry out the MEMS piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters numerical simulation can improve the efficiency of the harvester designing and manufacturing consumedly. The results showed that the maximum voltage at the resonant point was increasing while the initial curvature radius increasing. On the other hand, the voltage difference of the inner edge and the outer edge was very small because the matrix layer was PDMS with very small stiffness and density.