• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.70-76
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• 2017

The pollution problem of fossil energy sources has caused the development of green energy harvesting systems. Piezoelectric energy harvesting technology has been developed under those external environmental factors. A piezoelectric energy harvester can be defined as a device which transforms mechanical vibration or impact energy into electrical energy. Most researches have focused on bender structures. However, these have a limitation on energy efficiency because of the small effective electromechanical coupling factor, around 10%. Therefore, we should look for a new design for energy harvesting. A cymbal energy harvester can be a good candidate for the high-power energy harvester because it uses a high amplification mechanism using endcaps while keeping a higher electromechanical coupling factor. In this research, we focused on energy efficiency improvements of the cymbal energy harvester by changing the polarization direction, because the electromechanical coupling factor of the k33 mode and the k15 mode is larger than that of the k31 mode. Theoretically, we checked the cymbal harvester with radial polarization and it could obtain 6 times larger energy than that with the k31 direction polarization. Furthermore, we verified the theoretical expectation using the finite element method program. Consequently, we could expect a more efficient cymbal harvester with the radial polarization by comparing two polarization directions.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.567-576
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• 2017

Design of piezoelectric energy harvester for a wide operating frequency range is a challenging problem and is currently being investigated by many researchers. Widening the operating frequency is required, as the energy is harvested from ambient source of vibration which consists of spectrum of frequency. This paper presents a new technique to increase the operating frequency range which is achieved by designing a harvester featured by a propped cantilever beam with variable over hang length. The proposed piezoelectric energy harvester is modeled analytically using Euler Bernoulli beam theory and the effectiveness of the harvester is demonstrated through experimentation. The results from analytical model and from experimentation reveal that the proposed energy harvester generates an open circuit output voltage ranging from 36.43 V to 11.94 V for the frequency range of 27.24 Hz to 48.47 Hz. The proposed harvester produces continuously varying output voltage and power in the broadened operating frequency range.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.463-469
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• 2015

A vibration-based energy harvester and its equivalent circuit models have been reported. Most models predict voltage signals at harmonic excitation. However, vibrations in a natural environment are unpredictable in frequency and amplitude. In this paper, we propose a realistic equivalent circuit model of a frequency-up-converting impact-based piezoelectric energy harvester. It can describe the behavior of the harvester in a real environment where the frequency and the amplitude of the excitation vary arbitrarily. The simulation results of the model were compared with experimental data and showed good agreement. The proposed model can predict both the impact response and long term response in a non-harmonic excitation. The model is also very useful to analyze the performance of energy conversion circuitry with the harvester.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.458-468
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• 2016

Electromechanical model for analyzing a multimodal piezoelectric energy harvester comprising three connected beams is presented in this paper. This system consists of three beams which are connected alternately. The piezoelectric layer is only attached to the middle beam. With this special structural configuration, the first, second, and third natural frequencies are congregated so that the energy harvester can generate meaningful amount of power consistently when the main frequency component of the excitation varies around the lowest three natural frequencies of the harvester. To investigate the dynamic and electric response of the piezoelectric energy harvester, an electromechanical model is developed using the Kane's method and the accuracy of the model is validated by comparing the results obtained with the model with those obtained with the commercial software ANSYS. The results show that the piezoelectric energy harvester comprising three connected beams has much broader power generating frequency range than that of the conventional piezoelectric energy harvester.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.87-92
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• 2014

This paper presents a new design for a piezoelectric energy harvester with the potential to harvest vibration energy over a wide range of excitation frequencies, particularly beyond the resonance frequency. The piezoelectric vibration energy harvester employs the concept of pole-zero cancellation occurring in a lever type anti-resonant system. The experimental results show that the proposed energy harvester can provide the potential possibility of a broadband piezoelectric vibration energy harvester.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2012.04a
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• pp.819-824
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• 2012

This paper presents the wideband vibration system of an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester that obtained electric power for wireless sensor applications from the ever-change vibrations of bridge. It is a system with two degree of freedom vibrations that are composed of two mass and two spring respectively. One system is housing mass and spring, the other is the magnetic mass and spring that is the vibration system construction's element of electromagnetic vibration energy harvester. In other words, it is called dynamic vibration absorber. This paper show that the ratio of housing mass to magnetic mass decides the bandwidth and the size of amplitude of magnetic mass in electromagnetic vibration energy harvester. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of energy in electromagnetic vibration energy harvester for wireless sensor applications.

• 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 Regional Science Association
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.49-59
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• 2017

The piezoelectric energy harvester is recently being developed and catching on as a way to achieve low carbon green growth. The practical application of the piezoelectric energy harvester is expected to contribute not only to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but also to the improvement of residents' welfare. This paper conducted a cost-benefit analysis for the installation of piezoelectric energy harvester on the highway focusing on its impacts on the public. The results showed that the installation of piezoelectric energy harvester on the gyeongbu highway is economically feasible in that it could increase the social welfare for the residents. Finally, this paper suggests policy direction for the practical use of the piezoelectric energy harvester, based on the results obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-7
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• 2018

Recently, as interest in the internet of things has increased, a vibration energy harvester has attracted attention as a power supply method for a wireless sensor. The vibration energy harvester can be divided into piezoelectric types, electromagnetic type and electrostatic type, according to the energy conversion type. The electromagnetic vibration energy harvester has advantages, in terms of output density and design flexibility, compared to other methods. The efficiency of an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester is determined by the shape, size, and spacing of coils and magnets. Generating all the experimental cases is expensive, in terms of time and money. This study proposes a method to perform design optimization of an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester using an open source, big data platform.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.549-563
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• 2012

Theoretical analysis is performed on a multi-mode energy harvester design with focus on the first two vibration modes. Based on the analysis, a modification is proposed for designing a novel adaptive multi-mode energy harvester. The device comprises a simply supported beam with distributed mass and piezoelectric elements, and an adaptive damper that provides a 180 degree phase shift for the motions of two supports only at the second vibration mode. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that the new design can efficiently scavenge energy at the first two vibration modes. The energy harvesting capability of the multi-mode energy harvester is also compared with that of a cantilever-based energy harvester for single-mode vibration. The results show that the energy harvesting capacity is affected by the damping ratios of different designs. For fixed damping ratio and design dimensions, the multi-mode design has higher energy harvesting capacity than the cantilever-based design.