• Advances in Computational Design
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.155-173
• /
• 2016

This paper presents a method of design for the energy harvesting of a piezoelectric cantilever beam. Vibration modes have strain nodes where the strain distribution changes in the direction of the beam length. Covering the strain nodes of the vibration modes with continuous electrodes effects a cancellation of the voltages outputs. The use of segmented electrodes avoids cancellations of the voltage for multi-mode vibration. The resistive load affects the voltage and generated power. The optimum resistive load is considered for segmented and continuous electrodes, and then the power output is verified. One of the effective parameters on energy harvesting performance is the existence of concentrated mass. This topic is studied in this paper. Resonance and off-resonance cases are considered for the harvester. In this paper, both theoretical and experimental methods are used for satisfactory results.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.209-213
• /
• 2010

This paper describes the fabrication and characteristics of AlN piezoelectric MPG(micro power generator). The micro energy harvester was fabricated to convert ambient vibration energy to electrical power as a AlN piezoelectric cantilever with Si proof-mass. To be compatible with CMOS process, AlN thin film was grown at low temperature by RF magnetron sputtering and micro power generators were fabricated by MEMS technologies. X-ray diffraction pattern proved that the grown AlN film had highly(002) orientation with low value of FWHM(full width at the half maximum, $\theta=0.276^{\circ}$) in the rocking curve around(002) reflections. The implemented harvester showed the $198.5\;{\mu}m$ highest membrane displacement and generated 6.4 nW of electrical power to $80\;k{\Omega}$ resistive load with $22.6\;mV_{rms}$ voltage from 1.0 G acceleration at its resonant frequency of 389 Hz. From these results, the AlN piezoelectric MPG will be possible to suitable with the batch process and confirm the possibility for power supply in portable, mobile and wearable microsystems.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.25 no.7
• /
• pp.511-515
• /
• 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 24 piezoelectric cantilevers and 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 and the energy harvester in the form of speed bumps and underground. The energy harvester installed in a speed bump form generated power of 7.61 mW at the vehicular velocity of 20 km/h. Also, power generation of the energy harvester installed in the underground form was 63.9 mW at the vehicular velocity of 28 km/h. Although the number of piezoelectric cantilevers was reduced by 1/3 to 24 in comparison to the previous research results with 72 piezoelectric cantilevers, similar power generation characteristic value was obtained within the vehicular velocity of 20 km/h by altering the vehicle load transfer mechanism and cantilever vibration method.

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

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.9
• /
• pp.896-902
• /
• 2012

For most applications of the vibration energy harvesting technology as in wireless sensor networks for smart buildings and plants, the evaluation of DC output performance of vibration energy harvesters is typically required. However, there is no dedicated algorithm for the evaluation. The lack of a dedicated algorithm results from difficulties in the direct incorporation of nonlinear rectifying and regulating circuitry into finite element models of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters. In this study, we develop a dedicated algorithm and present software based on it for the evaluation of not only AC but also DC electrical quantities. Here, an equivalent electrical circuit model is employed. The COMSOL multiphysics simulation tool is adopted for extracting equivalent electrical circuit parameters of a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester and MATLAB is used to make a graphical user interface. The AC voltage and power outputs calculated by the proposed algorithm under various conditions are compared with those by a traditional finite element analysis. The DC output voltage and power through a rectifier are obtained for varying values of smoothing capacitance and external resistance.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.66 no.10
• /
• pp.1499-1507
• /
• 2017

This paper presents an impact-based piezoelectric vibration energy harvester using a freely movable metal sphere and a piezoceramic fiber-based MFC (Macro Fiber Composite) as piezoelectric cantilever. The free motion of the metal sphere, which impacts both ends of the cavity in an aluminum housing, generates power across a cantilever-type MFC beam in response to low frequency vibration such as human-body-induced motion. Impacting force of the spherical proof mass is transformed into the vibration of the piezoelectric cantilever indirectly via the aluminum housing. A proof-of-concept energy harvesting device has been fabricated and tested. Effect of the indirect impact-based system has been tested and compared with the direct impact-based counterpart. Maximum peak-to-peak open circuit voltage of 39.8V and average power of $598.9{\mu}W$ have been obtained at 3g acceleration at 18Hz. Long-term reliability of the fabricated device has been verified by cyclic testing. For the improvement of output performance and reliability, various devices have been tested and compared. Using device fabricated with anodized aluminum housing, maximum peak-to-peak open-circuit voltage of 34.4V and average power of $372.8{\mu}W$ have been obtained at 3g excitation at 20Hz. In terms of reliability, housing with 0.5mm-thick steel plate and anodized aluminum gave improved results with reduced power reduction during initial phase of the cyclic testing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of IIIuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.407-410
• /
• 2009

A piezoelectric device which converts mechanical vibration energy into electrical energy is able to harvest energy and the usable energy is mW ${\sim}$ W, hence a converter is necessary to acquire the energy efficiently. Various limited conditions should be considered for the design of AC/DC converter for energy harvesting of a piezoelectric device supplying small amount of energy. In addition to simple structure, compact size, light weight and high efficiency, the energy harvesting AC!DC converter should adopt the technique of self operating, in which only the harvested energy from the piezoelectric device is available. This paper proposes new AC/DC resonant boost converter to harvest efficiently electrical energy from mechanical vibration energy, analyzes the operating characteristics of the converter and proves its feasibility for energy harvester with PSPICE simulation and experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.69-74
• /
• 2015

Recently, energy harvesting technology is increasing due to the fossil fuel shortages. Energy harvesting is generating electrical energy from wasted energies as sunlight, wind, waves, pressure, and vibration etc. Energy harvesting is one of the alternatives of fossil fuel. One of the energy harvesting technologies, the piezoelectric energy harvesting has been actively studied. Piezoelectric generating uses a positive piezoelectric effect which produces electrical energy when mechanical vibration is applied to the piezoelectric device. Piezoelectric energy harvesting has an advantage in that it is relatively not affected by weather, area and place. Also, stable and sustainable energy generation is possible. However, the output power is relatively low, so in this paper, newly designed honeycomb shaped piezoelectric energy harvesting device for increasing a generating efficiency. The output characteristics of the piezoelectric harvesting device were analyzed according to the change of parameters by using the finite element method analysis program. One model which has high output voltage was selected and a prototype of the honeycomb shaped piezoelectric harvesting device was fabricated. Experimental results from the fabricated device were compared to the analyzed results. After the AC-DC converting, the power of one honeycomb shaped piezoelectric energy harvesting device was measured 2.3[mW] at road resistance 5.1[$K{\Omega}$]. And output power was increased the number of harvesting device when piezoelectric energy harvesting device were connected in series and parallel.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.42 no.8
• /
• pp.648-653
• /
• 2014

Fly-wheel, gimbal antenna, mechanical gyro and cryocooler with moving parts generate a micro-vibration during their on-orbit operation. For the acquisition of high quality image of observation satellite, additional technical efforts are required to reduce the micro-vibration level from the vibration sources. In this study, we proposed a passive isolation system combined with a tuned mass damper-type energy harvester to generate electrical energy from the micro-vibration which has always been subjected to useless isolation objectives. The feasibility of the system has been investigated through the numerical simulation.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.107-113
• /
• 2017

Energy source of a piezo-electric harvester is vibration. Sources of vibration are machineries operated with high frequencies, constructions and people operated with low frequencies and etc. In this study, we tried to figure out power generation properties over vibrations upon angles of a piezo-cantilever for applying them to movements of the construction and/or people, which are vibration sources at low frequencies. A uni-morph cantilever with a $59mm{\times}29mm{\times}0.2mm$ piezo-electric element attached on a $71mm{\times}46mm{\times}0.25mm$ copperplate was used. A spring was attached to the lower side of the cantilever and a mass was attached on the opposite side. Also, a structure with a specific angle which is an angle in between the ground and the cantilever was prepared and then, connected to a spring or the cantilever. Then, this structure was divided into the A-type and B-type and excited in the direction of z- axis. After that, the angle between the ground and the cantilever was changed and excited by 1 to 10 Hz upon the existence of a spring and/or a mass to compare power generation properties.