Analysis of Coupled Dynamic and Voltage Models of Piezoelectric Cantilever Energy Harvester using Differential Transformation Method

Abstract

In this work, differential transformation method with after treatment technique is applied to develop analytical models for the prediction of the behavior and output voltage of cantilever piezoelectric energy harvesters. The analytical results are in a good agreement with the experimental results in literature. The first mode of vibration has the lowest resonant frequency, and typically provides the most deflection and therefore electrical energy. The output voltage increases with the length of the beam but increase in the thickness of the beam decreases the output voltage. The results depict that the shape of the cantilever energy harvester plays an important role in improving the harvester’s efficiency. It is established that under the same loading, material and geometrical conditions, triangular cantilever beams are more efficient than rectangular ones. From the results, it is also established that that among all the cantilever beams with uniform thickness, the triangular cantilever, can lead to highest resonance frequency. Therefore, in order to obtain more wideband piezoelectric energy harvester, the geometrical and material designs of piezoelectric resonant cantilevers must be properly analyzed.