A novel piezoelectric energy harvesting device is presented in this paper. Different from the existing designs, the proposed apparatus is based on the principle of nonlinear energy sink (NES) in order to achieve broadband energy harvesting. First, the concept of the proposed design is described. Then the system modeling and parameter identification are addressed. The transient responses and voltage output performance of the apparatus are examined through an experimental study. The study shows that the proposed apparatus behaves similarly as the NES with the following features: initial energy dependence, 1:1 resonance, targeted energy transfer, etc. Broadband voltage output is achieved when NES is activated.

Date Published: 2 April 2015
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9431, Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems 2015, 94310R (2 April 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2084167

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9431:
Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems 2015
Wei-Hsin Liao, Editor(s)