Study on piezoelectric elements for energy harvesting

Abstract

Energy is essential in building up modern society. Energy is being utilized at an increasing rate for the sustenance and wellbeing of mankind. Energy in form of electricity is required everywhere - in domestic needs, industries, agriculture sectors. The increasing demand of electricity requires energy conservation and energy management. Conventional energy resource in form of electricity is cost effective. However this may not be suitable for some applications like portable instruments or the equipments used at remote areas. Scientists and engineers are looking for alternate energy sources and succeeded in some areas like solar energy, biogas, windmill etc. They may not be cost effective and there are several disadvantages in these sources. Piezo-electric generator (PEG) is one type of non-conventional energy source that can convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. Though their energy conversion is very low, but they may be used in some typical applications of portable and low power consuming devices. In this paper some investigation has been made how energy can be extracted from piezo-electric generators and efficiency can be improved.