Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting using Single Crystal Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O 3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-PT) Device

Abstract

We present the analytical and experimental studies of a piezoelectric energy harvesting device that can be used as a standalone energy source for powering microsensors and electronics. Single crystal piezoelectric Pb(Mg_1/3 Nb_2/3)O₃-xPbTiO₃ (PMN-PT) with large electromechanical coupling coefficient was employed for device design and fabrication in this study. An analytical model for estimating the power-harvesting performance was derived for a cantilever-mounted aluminum alloy plate with a PMN-PT device bonded near the clamped end and a proof mass at the other end. Considering the plate was subjected to both a steady-state sinusoidal vibration and a pulse impact excitation, static, and dynamic analyses were performed for device structure to achieve efficient energy harvesting. In the static analysis, the effect of geometrical dimension of piezoelectric device on the energy harvesting performance has been discussed. In the dynamic analysis, transient response of the device subjected to a pulse impact excitation was studied using a single degree of freedom system model. The resonance characteristics and the power generation capability of the device were discussed. Based on the analytical results, a cantilever device was fabricated and evaluated with sinusoidal excitation and impact excitation. The results are applicable for the structural design of piezoelectric energy harvesting devices.

Keywords

energy harvesting piezoelectric piezoelectric single crystal.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ajitsaria, J. , Choe, S.Y. , Shen, D. and Kim, D.J. 2007. ``Modeling and Analysis of a Bimorph Piezoelectric Cantilever Beam for Voltage Generation,'' Smart Mater. Struct., 16:447-454.

Anna, H. 2003. Wireless Sensor Network Designs, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, USA.

Anton, S.R. and Sodano, H.A. 2007. ``A Review of Power Harvesting using Piezoelectric Materials (2003-2006),'' Smart Mater. Struct., 16:R1-R21.

Baker, J. , Roundy, S. and Wright, P. 2005. ``Alternative Geometries for Increasing Power Density in Vibration Energy Scavenging for Wireless Sensor Networks,'' Proc. 3rd Int. Energy Conversion Engineering Conf. (San Francisco, CA, Aug.), pp. 959-970.

Cho, J. , Anderson, M. , Richards, R. , Bahr, D. and Richards, C. 2005. ``Optimization of Electromechanical Coupling for a Thin-film PZT Membrane I. Modeling,'' J. Micromech. Microeng., 15:1797-1803.

Churchill, D.L. , Hamel, M.J. , Townsend, C.P. and Arms, S.W. 2003. ``Strain Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Networks ,'' Proc. Smart Struct. and Mater. Conf.; Proc. SPIE, 5055:319-327.

Cornwell, P.J. , Goethal, J. , Kowko, J. and Damianakis, M. 2005. ``Enhancing Power Harvesting using a Tuned Auxiliary Structure,'' J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct., 16:825-834.

Gardner, J.W. 1994. Microsensors: Principles and Applications, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, England.

Gurav, S.P. , Kasyap, A. , Sheplak, M. , Cattafesta, L. , Haftka, R.T. , Goosen, J.F.L. and Van Keulen, F. 2004. ``Uncertainty-based Design Optimization of a Micro Piezoelectric Composite Energy Reclamation Device,'' Proc. 10th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conf, pp. 3559-3570.

10.

Kim, H.W. , Batra, A. , Priya, S. , Uchino, K. , Markley, D. , Newnham, R.E. and Hofmann, H.F. 2004. ``Energy Harvesting using a Piezoelectric `Cymbal' Transducer in Dynamic Environment,'' Japan J. Appl. Phys., 43:6178-6183.

11.

Lee, C.S. , Joo, J. , Han, S. , Lee, J.H. and Koh, S.K. 2005. ``Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Transducers with Highly Conducting Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) Electrodes,'' Proc. Int. Conf. on Science and Technology of Synthetic Metals, 152:49-52.

12.

Mohammadi, F. , Khan, A. and Cass, R.B. 2003. ``Power Generation from Piezoelectric Lead Zirconate Titanate Fiber Composites,'' Proc.Materials Research Symp , p. 736.

13.

Ng, T.H. and Liao, W.H. 2005. ``Sensitivity Analysis and Energy Harvesting for a Self-powered Piezoelectric Sensor,'' J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct., 16:785-797.

14.

Platt, S.R. , Farritor, S. and Haider, H. 2005. ``On Low-frequency Electric Power Generation with PZT Ceramics,'' IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatronics, 10:240-252.

15.

Shu, Y.C. and Lien, I.C. 2006. ``Analysis of Power Output for Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Systems,'' Smart Mater. Struct., 15:1499-1512.

16.

Sodano, H.A. , Lloyd, J. and Inman, D.J. 2004. ``An Experimental Comparison between Several Active Composite Actuators for Power Generation,'' Proc. Smart Structures and Materials Conf.; Proc. SPIE, 5390:370-378.

17.

Sodano, H.A. , Inman, D.J. and Park, G. 2005. ``Comparison of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Devices for Recharging Batteries,'' J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct. , 16:799-807.

18.

Tabib-Azar, M. 1998. Microactuators: Electrical, Magnetic, Thermal, Optical, Mechanical, Chemical and Smart Structures (Electronic Materials: Science & Technology), Kluwer Acdemic, Boston .

19.

Thomson, W.T. 1993. Theory of Vibration with Applications, 4th edn, New Jersey, Englewood Cliffs.

20.

Wang, Q.M. , Yang, Z.C. , Li, F. and Smolinski, P. 2004. ``Analysis of Thin Film Piezoelectric Microaccelerometer using Analytical and Finite Element Modeling,'' Sens. Actuators, A, 113:1-11.

21.

Wang, S. , Lam, K.H. , Sun, C.L. , Kwok, K.W. , Chan, W.L.H. , Guo, M.S. and Zhao, X.Z. 2007. ``Energy Harvesting with Piezoelectric Drum Transducer,'' Appl. Phys. Lett., 90:113-506.

22.

Yang, J. , Zhou, H. , Hu, Y. and Jiang, Q. 2005. ``Performance of a Piezoelectric Harvester in Thickness-stretch Mode of a Plate,'' IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control, 52:1872-1876.