Energy 96 (2016) 495e506

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

A conceptual study on the dynamics of a piezoelectric MEMS

(Micro Electro Mechanical System) energy harvester
Saber Azizi a, *, Ali Ghodsi b, Hamid Jafari b, Mohammad Reza Ghazavi b
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Urmia University of Technology, Urmia, Iran
b
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The mechanical behavior of a bimorph piezoelectric micro cantilever exposed to harmonic base exci-
Received 15 May 2015 tation is investigated. The governing motion equation coupled with the equation of the output electrical
Received in revised form circuit is discretized using Galerkin method and numerically integrated over the time. Two different
10 October 2015
types of output circuits including parallel and series connections are examined and the most effective
Accepted 6 December 2015
Available online xxx
output circuit from the power delivery point of view on the domain of the governing parameters is
introduced. The energy conservation is examined by comparing the input and harvested energies. It is
concluded that the energy harvesting in the absence of mechanical damping resembles the behavior of a
Keywords:
Energy harvesting
damped mechanical oscillator due to the exponential attenuation of the motion amplitude. It is shown
Bimorph piezoelectric micro cantilever that the output power in terms of the load resistance of the output circuit, exhibits Lorenzian behavior
Power delivery revealing the multi factorial dependency of the power on the governing parameters. The effect of load
MEMS resistance and the effective piezoelectric stress constant on the equivalent damping ratio is investigated.
Attenuation Subjected to harmonic base excitation, the steady state voltage, current and power responses are pre-
sented. The results are presented for various piezoelectric materials and on the plane of load resistance
and effective piezoelectric stress constant, the output power delivery as well as the equivalent non-
dimensional damping coefficient is determined.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Piezoelectric energy harvesting is highly focused since a

piezoelectric material can convert mechanical vibration into
Energy harvesting is the scavenging of ambient energy in order electrical energy based on a very simple structure [18] and large
to make an autonomous and self-powered electronic devices for power densities [1]. Piezoelectricity is a property of certain
numerous applications, most particularly electronics and electrical crystalline materials such as quartz that develop electricity when
systems ranging from wireless sensor networks to medical im- pressure is applied and undergo deformation when an electric
plants [1e4]. In past decade this field of research has generated a lot field is applied [7]. In the last few years many studies focused on
of interest within the scientific community and industrial area estimation of electric charge output for energy harvesting and
since it provides a route for the realization of alternatives for the parameters that affected on harvested energy [16,19e21]. Flynn
conventional battery. Energy harvestings methods are categorized et al. [19] reported fundamental limitations on PZT (lead zirco-
into two major groups including motive and non-motive. The nate titanate) material. They stated for PZT-5H a mechanical
motive class containing mostly vibrational and kinetic energy stress-limited work cycle was 330 at 100 kHz. Shen et al. [21]
transforming method such as piezoelectric [5e7] electromagnetic designed and fabricated a PZT piezoelectric cantilever with a
[8e10] electrostatic [11e14] and Magnetostrictive [15e17] while micromachined Si proof mass for a low frequency vibration en-
non-motive ones, include solar, thermal and etc. [3]. ergy harvesting application. They applied 0.75 g (g ¼ 9.81 m/s2)
acceleration amplitude to the cantilever and attained 101 mV AC
output measured across resistive load of 16 kU of resonance
frequency 183.8 kHz. Liu et al. [20] developed an array of power
* Corresponding author.
generator based on thick-film piezoelectric cantilevers in order to
E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (S. Azizi). improve frequency flexibility and power output. They reported an

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.12.014
0360-5442/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
496 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506

Fig. 1. 3-D model of the proposed piezoelectric bimorph cantilever a: series connection b: parallel connection c: cross section.

improved performance of 3.98 effective electrical power and 3.93 Dietl et al. [25] proponed a Timoshenko model of transverse
DC output voltages to resistance load. Erturk et al. [22] imposed piezoelectric beam to overcome the over predicted parameter
an improved mathematical model and made an attempt to cor- values in EulereBernoulli beam models. They stated the exact
rect the oversimplified issues related to mathematical formula- expressions for the voltage, current, power, and tip deflection of
tion. They also presented a closed form analytical solutions of the piezoelectric beam. They also optimized the shapes of beam
bimorph cantilever configurations with series and parallel con- for harvesting power using heuristic optimization code and the
nections of piezoceramic layers. Shu et al. [23] investigated the attributes of this optimal beam was validated with the experi-
energy conversion efficiency under steady state condition for a mental results [26]. Gammaitoni et al. [27] modeled piezoelectric
rectified piezoelectric power harvester. They stated that optimi- harvesting oscillator dynamics with nonlinear stochastic differ-
zation criteria depend upon the relative strength of the electro- ential equation and highlighted the benefit of noise and non-
mechanical coupling. Marzencki et al. [24] propounded a passive, linearity. More studies was demonstrated in a review by Salem
wideband adaptive system by employing mechanical nonlinear Saadon, Othman Sidek [28]. Most recently Kang-Qi Fan et al. [29]
strain stiffening. They related experimentally verified frequency designed and experimentally verified a compact bi-directional
adaptability of over 36% for a clampedeclamped beam device at nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvester, sensitive to two
2 g input acceleration. They asserted that the proposed solution orthogonal directions. Their model was composed of two
was perfectly suited for autonomous industrial machinery sur- magnetically coupled piezoelectric cantilever beams with
veillance systems, where high amplitude vibrations are abundant. orthogonal directions of deflection. They stated that the proposed
energy harvester can not only harvest vibration energy from
various directions but also provide an enhanced output voltage as
compared to its linear counterpart. Zhengbao Yang, Jean Zu [30]
presented high-efficiency compressive-mode piezoelectric en-
ergy harvester. Due to the superior compressive strength of pie-
zoceramics, the high-efficiency compressive-mode piezoelectric
energy harvester showed superior capability of high power
output at low frequency range. They asserted that under an ac-
celeration of 0.5 g (g ¼ 9.8 m/s2), a maximum power of 19 mW is
produced at 21 Hz. Kangqi Fan et al. [31] designed and developed
a beam-roller piezoelectric energy harvester. The beam-roller
harvester was composed of a piezoelectric cantilever beam, a
roller, and a frame. The energy captured by the roller was
transferred to the beam via magnetic coupling. They used a
lumped parameter model and also experimentally validated the
theoretical predictions.
In this paper the dynamics of a cantilever bimorph piezoelectric
energy harvester [1,32] is investigated. The structure undergoes
base excitation which produces mechanical vibration along the
beam. As subjected to mechanical stress induced by the vibration of
the beam, electrical potential field is generated along the height of
the piezoelectric layers and this is directly converted to electrical
Fig. 2. Electrical circuit representing the series connection of the piezoelectric layers
power throughout an electrical circuit. In the absence of mechan-
with two dependent current sources. ical damping sources, the energy conservation is verified. It is
 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506 497

Fig. 3. Electrical circuit representing the parallel connection of the piezoelectric layers with two dependent current sources.

Table 1 where ca is the viscous air damping coefficient and cs represents the
Geometric properties. strain-rate damping coefficient; M and m refer to the internal
Piezoelectric Aluminum layer bending moment and mass per unit length respectively repre-
Length (L) (mm) 30 30
sented as [34,35]:
Width (b) (mm) 5 5
Thickness (h) (mm) 0.15 0.05
0 1
hAl hAl hAl
B  þ hp C
shown that the attenuation of the amplitude of the motion due to B Z2 Z2 2Z C
B C
the consumption of energy is similar to that of a mass-spring- Mðx; tÞ ¼ bB
B Tp zdz þ TAl zdz þ Tp zdzC
C
B C
damper model and based on the type of the output electric cir- @ hAl hAl hAl A
cuit the equivalent non-dimensional damping ratio is determined. hp  
2 2 2
Based on the numerical integration, voltage/power and current-  
frequency response curves for both series and parallel output cir- m ¼ b rAl hAl þ 2rp hp
cuits are evaluated. It is concluded that the power in terms of the (3)
resistance of the output circuit exhibits a Lorenzian behavior. For
low resistances, the output power corresponding to parallel circuit where T and r represent the stress component and mass density
is more than that appertaining to the series one; this behavior is respectively. The subscripts Al and p stand for the aluminum and
reversed for higher load resistances. piezoelectric material, and superscripts s and p refer to series and
parallel connections respectively. Stress component is determined
based on [36]:
2. Modeling

3-D schematics of the proposed piezoelectric bimorph canti- TAl ¼ YAl SAl ; Tp ¼ cE11 Sp  e31 E3 (4)
lever with series and parallel output connections are depicted in
Fig. 1.where L, b and h refer to the length, width and height of the where YAl and cE11 is the elastic modulus (i.e., Young's modulus) of
cantilever respectively. As illustrated in Fig. 1 wb(x,t) is the trans- the aluminum and piezoelectric at constant electric field, respec-
verse base excitation applied to the fixed reference frame. The tively. E3 is the electric field component in the 3-direction (i.e., z-
absolute transverse displacement w is determined as: direction or the poling direction), e31 is the effective piezoelectric
stress constant and s is the axial strain expressed as:
wðx; tÞ ¼ wb ðx; tÞ þ wrel ðx; tÞ (1)

where the displacement relative to the reference frame is denoted

v2 wrel ðx; tÞ
by wrel. The equation of motion is expressed as [33]: Sðx; z; tÞ ¼ z (5)
vx2
In series connection as illustrated in Fig. 1, the poling direction of
v2 Mðx; tÞ v5 wrel ðx; tÞ vw ðx; tÞ v2 wrel ðx; tÞ
 þ cs I þ ca rel þm piezoelectric layers are opposite to each other while in parallel
vx 2 vx vt
4 vt vt 2 connection they are the same; The electric field components in
2
v wb ðx; tÞ series and parallel connections are determined based on [37]:
¼ m (2)
vt 2

vs ðtÞ
E3s ðtÞ ¼  Series connection
2hp
Table 2
8 p
Material properties.
> v ðtÞ hAl hp
>
>  z
Material Elastic Mass density Piezoelectric Permittivity >
< hp 2 2
p
modulus (kg/m3) constant (C/m2) constant (nF/m) E3 ðtÞ ¼ Parallel connection (6)
>
>
(GPa) >
> vp ðtÞ hp h
:   z   Al
PZT-5A 60.97 7750 10.43 13.3 hp 2 2
PZT-5H 60.97 7450 16.70 25.5
PMN-PT (33%PT) 14.5 8060 19.30 47.0 Considering Eq. (3), Eq. (4) and Eq. (6) the internal bending
N-10 67.56 8000 19.39 42.6 moment corresponding to both series and parallel output connec-
Aluminum 70 2700 e e
tions reduces to:
498 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506

Fig. 4. Free oscillation response, R ¼ 1 kU, a: series connection b: parallel connection.

" 2 #
v2 wsrel ðx; tÞ e31 b hAl h2Al
s
M ðx; tÞ ¼ YI s s
þ w v ðtÞ½HðxÞ  Hðx  LÞ ws ¼ hp þ 
vx2 2hp 2 4
(7) " 2 # (8)
p
v2 wrel ðx; tÞ e b h h2
p
M ðx; tÞ ¼ YI p p
þ w v ðtÞ½HðxÞ  Hðx  LÞ w ¼ 2w ¼ 31
p s
hp þ Al  Al
vx2 hp 2 4

where YI is the bending stiffness term of the composite cross- Considering Eq. (2), Eq. (6) and Eq. (7), the equation of the
section and ws ; wp are backward coupling terms defined as: motion for both series and parallel connections reduces to:
 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506 499

1 1

0.5 0.5
Deflection (mm)

Velocity (mm/s)
0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 -10 -5 0 5 10
Time (s) Deflection (mm)

Temporal response Phase plane

a

1 1

0.5 0.5
Velocity (mm/s)
Deflection (mm)

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 -10 -5 0 5 10
Time (s) Deflection (mm)

Temporal response Phase plane

b

Fig. 5. Free oscillation response, R ¼ 121.39 kU, a: series connection b: parallel connection.

X
∞
v4 wsrel ðx; tÞ v5 wsrel ðx; tÞ vwsrel ðx; tÞ v2 wsrel ðx; tÞ wsrel ðx; tÞ ¼ fr ðxÞqsr ðtÞ
YI þ cs I þ ca þm
vx 4
vx vt 4 vt vt 2 r¼1
(10)
  p
X
∞
p
ddðxÞ ddðx  LÞ v2 wb ðx; tÞ wrel ðx; tÞ ¼ fr ðxÞqr ðtÞ
ws vs ðtÞ  ¼ m r¼1
dx dx vt 2
p p p p
v4 wrel ðx; tÞ v5 wrel ðx; tÞ vwrel ðx; tÞ v2 wrel ðx; tÞ where qsr ðtÞ, and qpr ðtÞ are the generalized coordinates corre-
YI þ cs I þ ca þ m sponding to the series and parallel connections respectively; and
4
vx vt 4
vx vt 2
vt
  2
4r(x) is the mass-normalized eigenfunction of the rth vibration
ddðxÞ ddðx  LÞ v wb ðx; tÞ mode of a cantilever beam [38,39].
wp vp ðtÞ  ¼ m
dx dx vt 2 Substituting the approximate solution (Eq. (10)), into the motion
(9) equations (Eq. (9)) and multiplying both sides of the resultant in the
shape function 4i(x), and integrating over the length of the micro
The approximate solution to the relative displacement with beam, the following discretized equations in terms of the gener-
respect to the base, for both parallel and series output circuits are alized coordinates for both parallel and series output circuits are
assumed in the following forms: obtained:
500 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506

1 1

0.5 0.5
Deflection (mm)

Deflection (mm)
0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -10 -5 0 5 10
time (s) Velocity (mm/s)

Temporal response Phase plane

a

1 0.8

0.6

0.4
0.5
0.2
Deflection (mm)

Deflection (mm)

0
0
-0.2

-0.4
-0.5
-0.6

-0.8

-1 -1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -10 -5 0 5 10
Time (s) Velocity (mm/s)

Temporal response Phase plane

b

Fig. 6. Free oscillation response, R ¼ 1 MU, a: series connection b: parallel connection.

csr andcpr are modal electromechanical coupling terms for series

d2 qsr ðtÞ dqsr ðtÞ and parallel connections respectively. xr refers to the overall me-
2
þ 2xr ur þ u2r qsr ðtÞ  csr vs ðtÞ ¼ fr ðtÞ chanical damping ratio. The natural frequency of the cantilever is
dt dt
(11) denoted by ur and the modal mechanical forcing function fr(t) is
p p
d2 qr ðtÞ dq ðtÞ expressed as:
þ 2xr ur r þ u2r qpr ðtÞ  cpr vp ðtÞ ¼ fr ðtÞ
dt 2 dt

where: 2 3
2 ZL
v gðtÞ
  rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi fr ðtÞ ¼ m4 fr ðxÞdx5 (13)

s dfr ðxÞ p dfr ðxÞ
 YI dt 2
csr¼w ; cpr ¼w ; ur ¼ l2r ;
dx x¼L dx x¼L
0
mL4
cs Iur ca Series and parallel output circuits are depicted in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3
xr ¼ þ respectively.
2YI 2mur
Applying Kirchhoff's laws for the series and parallel output cir-
(12)
cuits, the differential equations in terms of the output voltages are
determined as follows:
 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506 501

80 400

Power (μW) 60 300

Power (μW)
40 200

20 100

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
time (s) time (s)

a) b)

8000 15000

6000
10000
Power (μW)

Power (μW)
4000

5000
2000

0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Time (s) Time (s)

c) d)

10000 4000

8000
3000
Power (μW)

Power (μW)

6000
2000
4000
1000
2000

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
time (s) Time (s)

e) f)

Fig. 7. Output power corresponding to free oscillation a: series connection, R ¼ 1 kU b: parallel connection, R ¼ 1 kU c: series connection, R ¼ 121.39 kU d: parallel connection,
R ¼ 121.39 kU e: series connection, R ¼ 1 MU f: parallel connection, R ¼ 1 MU.

Cp dvs ðtÞ vs ðtÞ

þ  isp ðtÞ ¼ 0 where permittivity constant for piezoelectric material is denoted
2 dt Rl by εs33 and kr as a modal electromechanical coupling term is gives as
(14)
dvp ðtÞ vp ðtÞ p
follow:
Cp þ  ip ðtÞ ¼ 0
dt 2Rl   
e31 hp þ hAl b dfr ðxÞ
kr ¼ (16)
where Cp is the internal capacitance and isp ðtÞ,ip ðtÞ are the apper-
p 2 dx x¼L
taining currents for series and parallel connections respectively; Cp,
p
isp ðtÞ, ip ðtÞ are determined based on [1]: 3. Results and discussions

εs33 bL The geometrical and material properties of the studied model

Cp ¼
hp are given in Table 1 and Table 2 as follows:
X
∞
dqsr ðtÞ To confirm the energy conservation, the response of the model
isp ðtÞ ¼  kr (15) subjected to initial condition excitation is studied. In the absence of
r¼1
dt
external viscous and strain rate attenuation, once the initial con-
p
X
∞
dqpr ðtÞ dition is applied, the applied mechanical strain energy is deter-
ip ðtÞ ¼  kr mined which is expected to be harvested as the time goes on. Fig. 4
r¼1
dt
depicts the temporal and phase responses corresponding to the
502 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506

Table 3
Energy conservation analysis.

Load resistance (kU) configuration Harvested energy (J) Deference (%) Damped time (s)

0.1 Parallel 0.0537363 13.87 Undamped

0.1 Series 0.0243119 61.03 Undamped
0.4 Parallel 0.0623730 0.0003 8
0.4 Series 0.0537363 13.87 Undamped
1 Parallel 0.0623962 0.0003 5
1 Series 0.0619484 0.23 8
10 Parallel 0.0622969 0.15 1
10 Series 0.0623971 0.0015 2
100 Parallel 0.0622843 0.17 0.2
100 Series 0.0622798 0.18 0.5

0
10
Series connection Series connection
Series connection
Parallel connection 0 Parallel connection
10 Parallel connection

Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)

0
10
-2
10
-2
10

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Frequency (kHz) Frequency (kHz) Frequency (kHz)

a b c
Fig. 8. Steady state voltage versus excitation frequency for both series and parallel configurations a:R ¼ 1 kU, b:R ¼ 10 kU, c:R ¼ 1 MU.

free vibration (qðtÞjt¼0 ¼ 9:61  106 ; fðxÞjx¼L ¼ 104:12; Fig. 6 depicts the temporal and phase responses with the same
wrel ðx; tÞjx¼L;t¼0 ¼ 1mm) with R ¼ 1 kU for both series and par- initial condition as of Fig. 4 and R ¼ 1 MU for both series and
allel output circuits. parallel output configurations.
Fig. 5 illustrates the temporal and phase responses with the Fig. 7, depicts the output power with respect to time for three
same initial condition as of Fig. 4 and R ¼ 121.39 kU for both series different load resistances (1 kU, 121.39 kU and 1 MU) for both series
and parallel output circuits. and parallel configurations.

0
10
Series connection
-2
Parallel connection
Power (μW)

Frequency (kHz)

a b c
Fig. 9. Steady state power versus excitation frequency for both series and parallel configurations a:R ¼ 1 kU, b:R ¼ 10 kU, c:R ¼ 1 MU.

0
10
Series connection
Parallel connection
Current (μA)

-5

Frequency (kHz)

a b c
Fig. 10. Steady state current versus excitation frequency for both series and parallel configurations a:R ¼ 1 kU, b:R ¼ 10 kU, c: R ¼ 1 MU.
 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506 503

As depicted in Figs. 4e6, the oscillations for small load re-

sistances (less than 121.39 kU), corresponding to series connection
is descending slower than that of the parallel connection. This is
attributed to the energy harvesting rate (power harvesting) in
parallel configuration which is more than that in series one. Based
on the least square errors, we have attributed an equivalent non-
dimensional damping ratio, which best fits the output temporal
response to that of a single degree of freedom mass-spring-damper
oscillator. As a result, a higher equivalent damping ratio is expected
for the parallel connection in this region. A similar discussion can
be made on the output powers. As the load resistance increases, the
responses of both configurations approach to each other and at
(RTh ¼ 121.39 kU) the differences vanish. This load resistance is
denoted as the threshold load resistance (RTh ¼ 121.39 kU) at which
both parallel and series configurations give off similar responses.
For the load resistances more than (RTh ¼ 121.39 kU), the behavior
reverses and the power harvesting rate corresponding to the series
configuration becomes more than that of the similar parallel
connection. In this region the equivalent non-dimensional damping
ratio of the series configuration becomes more than that of the
Fig. 11. Power-Resistance as the first mode is excited for both parallel and series parallel connection (Table 3).
configurations.

Fig. 12. Equivalent non dimensional damping ratio versus load resistance for different piezoelectric elastic modulus a: series connection b: parallel connection.

Fig. 13. Equivalent non dimensional damping ratio versus load resistance for different piezoelectric stress constants (e31) a: series connection b: parallel connection.
504 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506

Fig. 14. Equivalent non dimensional damping ratios versus load resistance for different permittivity constants a: series connection b: parallel connection.

Fig. 15. Equivalent damping ratio for different materials a: series connection b: parallel connection.

Fig. 17. Equivalent damping ratio versus load resistance and effective piezoelectric
Fig. 16. Equivalent damping ratio versus load resistance and effective piezoelectric
stress constant for parallel output connection.
stress constant for series output connection.
 S. Azizi et al. / Energy 96 (2016) 495e506 505

Considering the effect of first three mode shapes in the tem- Figs. 16 and 17 depict the variation of (z) with respect to the load
poral response of the device (Eq. (10)), the steady state response resistance and the effective piezoelectric voltage constant for series
due to the harmonic base excitation is numerically determined and parallel output circuits respectively.
(good agreement with frequency response curve analytically
determined by Erturk and Inman [22]). Fig. 8, illustrates the 4. Conclusion
amplitude of the steady state voltage in terms of the base exci-
tation frequency with three different load resistances (R ¼ 1 kU, Dynamics of a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever energy har-
R ¼ 10 kU, R ¼ 1MU) for both series and parallel configurations. vesting device was studied. The governing equation of the motion
As illustrated, once the excitation frequency coalesces with one coupled with the equation of the output electrical circuit was dis-
of the natural frequencies of the device, the output voltage consid- cretized based on the Galerkin method and numerically integrated
erably increases. The maximum power is harvested only if the over the time. The results were presented and compared for both
excitation frequency becomes equal to the first natural frequency. In series and parallel output circuit configurations. At first the energy
series configuration, the amplitude of the output voltage in compare conservation was examined by exciting the energy harvesting de-
with parallel connection is higher; however in parallel connection vice by an initial condition (energy injection) and harvesting the
the amplitude of the current is higher than that of the series injected energy by means of an appropriate output circuit. In the
connection; As a result, to charge batteries, parallel connection is absence of both extrinsic and intrinsic attenuation sources the
preferred since it produces higher amplitude of current. lateral oscillations of the cantilever beam tip were determined
Figs. 9 and 10, illustrate the amplitude of the steady state power which revealed that the amplitude descends exponentially
and current in terms of the base excitation frequency with three resembling the behavior of a damped single degree of freedom
different load resistances (R ¼ 1 kU, R ¼ 10 kU, R ¼ 1 MU) for both oscillator; the equivalent non-dimensional damping coefficient
series and parallel configurations. was determined so that the temporal response fits with an equiv-
Fig. 11 depicts the output steady state power in terms of the load alent damped oscillator based on the least square error. The output
resistance for both series and parallel configuration as the excita- power delivery in terms of the load resistance for both parallel and
tion frequency equals with the first natural frequency of the device. series configurations were examined. For low enough load re-
The output power for low enough load resistances with parallel sistances the maximum harvested power associated with the par-
configuration is more than that of the series one. As the load allel connection was more than that of the series output circuit; the
resistance increases, the output power for the two output circuits differences in the maximum output power delivery reduced as the
converge and the differences vanish at a particular load resistance load resistance increased and vanished at a particular load resis-
denoted by (RTh), at which both parallel and series configurations tance at which both output circuits gave off similar responses and
harvest the same powers. powers. For higher load resistances the maximum power delivery
The proposed energy harvesting device is operating in vacuum of the series connection was more than that of the parallel circuit
condition, however the oscillation amplitude as illustrated in with the same load resistance. As the second part of the results, the
Figs. 4e6 is decreasing as the time goes on; this is due to the har- input mechanical energy due to the harmonic base excitation was
vesting of the energy through the electrical output circuit. The harvested and transformed into electrical energy by means of both
reduction of the total energy of the device resembles the behavior parallel and series output configurations. The effect of first three
of the energy harvester to that of a single degree of freedom mass- mode shapes on the output response was taken into consideration.
spring oscillator in the presence of viscous damping. Fig. 12 depicts The maximum power was harvested as the base excitation fre-
the equivalent non-dimensional damping versus load resistance for quency coalesced with the first natural frequency of the device. The
various piezoelectric elasticity modulus (C11 E ).
E )
effect of elasticity modulus, effective stress constant and permit-
Here as the elasticity modulus of the piezoelectric layer (C11 tivity constants of the piezoelectric material on the equivalent,
increases, the equivalent stiffness of the device increases and damping coefficient were determined. The results of the present
consequently the non-dimensional equivalent damping ratio de- study can be used as a design tool for future applications of
creases; this behavior is in agreement with what happens in a bimorph piezoelectric energy harvesting devices.
single degree of freedom mass-spring-damper oscillator. Increasing
the overall stiffness of the device, leads in the increase of the critical
damping (Ccr ¼ 2mKeq) and accordingly reduction of the non- References
dimensional damping of the oscillator (z ¼ c/Ccr).
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[3] Priya S, Inman DJ. Energy harvesting technologies, vol. 21. Springer; 2009.
Corresponding to a fixed load resistance, as the absolute value of [4] Roundy S, Wright PK, Rabaey JM. Energy scavenging for wireless sensor
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