Broadband characteristics of vibration energy harvesting using one-dimensional phononic piezoelectric cantilever beams

Nowadays broadband vibration energy harvesting using piezoelectric effect has become a research hotspot. The innovation in this paper is the widening of the resonant bandwidth of a piezoelectric harvester based on phononic band gaps, which is called one-dimensional phononic piezoelectric cantilever beams (PPCBs). Broadband characteristics of one-dimensional PPCBs are analyzed deeply and the vibration band gap can be calculated. The effects of different parameters on the vibration band gap are presented by both numerical and finite element simulations. Finally experimental tests are conducted to validate the proposed method. It can be concluded that it is feasible to use the PPCB for broadband vibration energy harvesting and there should be a compromise among related parameters for low-frequency vibrations. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.