• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.319-325
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• 2015

This paper presents an efficient vibration energy harvester with a piezoelectric (PE) cantilever. The proposed PE energy harvester increases the efficiency through minimization of hardware complexity and hence reduction of power dissipation of the circuit. Two key features of the proposed energy harvester are (i) incorporation synchronized switches with a simple control circuit, and (ii) a feed-forward buck converter with a simple control circuit. The chip was fabricated in $0.18{\mu}m$ CMOS processing technology, and the measured results indicate that the proposed rectifier achieves the efficiency of 77%. The core area of the chip is 0.2 mm2.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.36-40
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• 2019

Energy harvesting is an advantageous technology for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that dispenses with the need for periodic replacement of batteries. WSNs are composed of numerous sensors for the collection of data and communication; hence, they are important in the Internet of Things (IoT). However, due to low power generation and energy conversion efficiency, harvesting technologies have so far been utilized in limited applications. In this study, a piezoelectric energy harvester was modeled in a vibration environment. This harvester has an oval-shaped configuration as compared to the conventional cantilever-type piezoelectric energy harvester. An analytical model based on an equivalent circuit was developed to appraise the advantages of the oval-shaped piezoelectric energy harvester in which several structural parameters were optimized for higher output performance in given vibration environments. As a result, an oval-shaped energy harvester with an average output power of 2.58 mW at 0.5 g and 60 Hz vibration conditions was developed. These technical approaches provided an opportunity to appreciate the significance of autonomous sensor networks.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.773-778
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• 2012

A road energy harvester was designed and fabricated to convert mechanical energy from the vehicle load to electrical energy. The road energy harvester is composed of 16 piezoelectric cantilevers. We fabricated prototypes using a vehicle load transfer mechanism. Applying a vehicle load transfer mechanism rather than directly installing energy harvesters under roads decreases the area of road construction and allows more energy harvesters to be installed on the side of the road. The power generation amount with respect to the vehicular velocity change was assessed by installing the vehicle load transfer mechanism form and underground form. The energy harvester installed in the underground form generated power of 4.52 mJ at the vehicular velocity of 50 km/h. Also, power generation of the energy harvester installed in the vehicle load transfer mechanism form was 48.65 mJ at the vehicular velocity of 50 km/h.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.661-668
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• 2012

Wireless sensor network is one of prospective methods for railway monitoring due to the long-term operation and low-maintenance performances. How to supply power to the wireless sensor nodes has drawn much attention recently. In railway monitoring, the idea of converting ambient vibration energy from vibration of railway track induced by passing trains to electric energy has made it a potential way for powering the wireless sensor nodes. In this paper, a bimorph cantilever piezoelectric energy harvester was designed based on a single degree-of-freedom model. Experimental test was also performed to validate the design. The first natural frequency of the bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester was decreased from 117.1 Hz to 65.2 Hz by adding 4 gram tip mass to the free end of the 8.6 gram energy harvester. In addition, the power generation of the piezoelectric energy harvester with 4 gram tip mass at resonant frequency was increased from 0.14 mW to 0.74 mW from $2.06m/s^2$ base excitation compared to stand-alone piezoelectric energy harvester without tip mass.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.150-156
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• 2011

Magnetoelectric (ME) transducers were originally intended for magnetic field sensors but have recently been used in vibration energy harvesting. In this paper, a new broadband vibration energy harvester has been designed and fabricated to be efficiently applicable over a range of source frequencies, which consists of two cantilever beams, two magnetoelectric (ME) transducers and a magnetic circuit. The effects of the structure parameters, such as the non-linear magnetic forces of the ME transducers and the magnetic field distribution of the magnetic circuit, are analyzed for achieving the optimal vibration energy harvesting performances. A prototype is fabricated and tested, and the experimental results on the performances show that the harvester has bandwidths of 5.6 Hz, and a maximum power of 0.25 mW under an acceleration of 0.2 g (with g = $9.8\;ms^2$).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.418-425
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• 2019

A piezoelectric ceramic fiber composite (PCFC) was successfully fabricated using $0.69Pb(Zr_{0.47}Ti_{0.53})O_3-0.31[Pb(Zn_{0.4}Ni_{0.6})_{1/3}Nb_{2/3}]O_3$ (PZT-PZNN) for use in small-scale wind energy harvesters. The PCFC was formed using an epoxy matrix material and an array of Ag/Pd-coated PZT-PZNN piezo-ceramic fibers sandwiched by Cu interdigitated electrode patterned polyethylene terephthalate film. The energy harvesting performance was evaluated in a custom-made wind tunnel while varying the wind speed and resistive load with two types of flutter wind energy harvesters. One had a five-PCFC array vertically clamped with a supporting acrylic rod while the other used the same structure but with a five-PCFC cantilever array. Stainless steel (thickness: $50{\mu}m$) was attached onto one side of the PCFC to form the PZT-PZNN cantilever. The output power, in general, increased with an increase in the wind speed from 2 m/s to 10 m/s for both energy harvesters. The highest output power of $15.1{\mu}W$ at $14k{\Omega}$ was obtained at a wind speed of 10 m/s for the flutter wind energy harvester with the PZT-PZNN cantilever array. The results presented here reveal the strong potential for wind energy harvester applications to supply sustainable power to various IoT micro-devices.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.206-211
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• 2010

Piezoelectric energy harvesting uses piezoelectric, which is able to convert unused mechanical vibration energy to electrical energy, such as with motor and machinery. The piezoelectric energy harvester was constructed with a cantilever made of lead zirconate titanate with a metal plate. The primary material was soft lead zirconium titanate (PZT-5H) due to the large strain availability, acceptable mechanical strength and high piezoelectric constant. This technique's drawback is that the energy efficiency is lower than the other energy harvesting methods, but this study increases the output electric power efficiency by analyzing a finite element method for the structure of the piezoelectric energy harvester. We manufactured two cantilever types as follows: the L-60 and L-33 bimorph piezoelectric energy harvesters. Their resulting energy harvesters were able to obtain high voltage values as follows: 27.4 mV and 40.6 mV. Moreover, these results have a similar band of resonance frequency it comparison to the simulation. Consequently, this study was confirmed with validity. The output electric powers of the L-60 and L-33 types have 3.1 mW/s and 5.8 mW/s with 47 Hz and 148 Hz of resonance frequency and then, the load resistivities were $100k\Omega$ and $10k\Omega$, respectively.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.261-265
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• 2020

In cantilever type piezoelectric energy harvester, the amount of power generation decreases rapidly when outside a certain frequency. The thickness and weight of the cantilever metal plate were modified to develop cantilevers that could produce high power over a wide frequency range. The thicker the cantilever, the higher the power in the higher frequency range. As the weight of the mass increased, the cantilever tended to generate higher power, and the frequency band decreased. A 0.6 mm metal plate cantilever that had a mass of 3.3 g generated power that exceeded 3 mW within the 91-102 Hz range, with average and output values of 9.484 mW and 20.748 mW, respectively, at 99 Hz.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.416-425
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• 2021

In the 4^th industrial age, electronic devices are becoming smaller and lighter with a low power consumption to overcome spatial limitation. The piezoelectric energy harvesters can convert mechanical kinetic energy into electric energy; thus, enabling the operation of small electronic devices. Recently, various piezoelectric harvesters have been reported and the electric output from these harvesters could be anticipated by theoretical analysis methods. For example, COMSOL Multiphysics software provides a theoretical simulation of piezoelectric effect with a combination of mechanical and electrical phenomena in the piezoelectric materials. This article introduces a brief modeling of piezoelectric harvester to investigate mechanical stress and electrical output of harvesting devices by the COMSOL Multiphysics software.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.483-490
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• 2015

This paper presents a proof-of-concept of a wheel-based magnetostrictive energy harvester (EH), which is a vibration-based EH. Coil-wound Galfenol cantilevers with two permanent magnets (PMs) act EH, while rotating wheels provide a forced vibration to EH. Four different cantilevers are designed and simulated for various end deflection. As expected from the simulation, the cantilever end deflection with triple cavity is the most. Three experiments are conducted to characterize the EH: the first with a magnetostrictive actuator, the second with a motor-driven wheel, and the third with the dummy weights. From the first experiment, the power reaches about 50 mV due to the relatively small displacement of the magnetostrictive actuator. From the second experiment, the power reaches about 120 mW. The power from the Galfenol cantilever is estimated to be about 60% of the total power from the wheel-based magnetostrictive EH.