Auxetic structure for increased power output of strain vibration energy harvester (article)
Ferguson, WJG; Kuang, Y; Evans, KE; et al.Smith, CW; Zhu, M
Date: 8 September 2018
Journal
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher DOI
Related links
Abstract
This paper develops an auxetic (negative Poisson’s ratio) piezoelectric energy harvester
(APEH) to increase the power output when harnessing strain energy. The APEH consists
of a piezoelectric element bonded to an auxetic substrate. The auxetic substrate
concentrates the stress and strain into the piezoelectric element’s region and ...
This paper develops an auxetic (negative Poisson’s ratio) piezoelectric energy harvester
(APEH) to increase the power output when harnessing strain energy. The APEH consists
of a piezoelectric element bonded to an auxetic substrate. The auxetic substrate
concentrates the stress and strain into the piezoelectric element’s region and introduces
auxetic behaviour in the piezoelectric element, both of which increase the electric power
output. A finite element model was developed to optimise the design and verify the
mechanism of the power increase. Three APEHs were manufactured and characterised.
Their performance was compared with two equivalent strain energy harvesters with plain
substrates. Experimental results show that the APEHs, excited by sinusoidal strains peak
to-peak of 250 με at 10 Hz, are able to produce electric power of up to 191.1 µW, which is
14.4 times of the peak power produced by the plain harvesters (13.4 µW). The power gain
factor is constant between samples as the amplitude and frequency of their applied strains
are varied. The model and experimental results are in good agreement, once accounting for
the imperfect bonding of the epoxy using the spring constant of the Thin Elastic Layers on
the modelled epoxy surfaces.
Engineering
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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