Analytical and Experimental Investigation of Partially Covered Piezoelectric Cantilever Energy Harvester

Electrical energy is normally generated through different sources such as hydroelectric, wind, heat, nuclear transformation, chemical reactions or vibrations. Nowadays, harvesting power from mechanical vibration is one of the novel technologies that usually can be done by systems based on electromagnetic, electrostatic, piezoelectric and combination of them. Piezoelectric systems can convert motion from the vibrating structures into electrical power. Cellulose Electro-active paper (EAPap) has been recognized as a novel smart piezoelectric material that can be used for energy harvesting purposes. One of the most prevalent method for vibration energy harvesting is using unimorph piezoelectric cantilever beams. In this paper, an analytical solution based on distributed parameter model is presented to calculate the generated energy from vibration of cantilever substrate that is partially covered by EAPap material. In the studied structure, piezoelectric layer thickness in comparison to the length of the beam and thickness of substrate material can be considered very thin. Thus its effect on the vibration behavior of structure is negligible. The results are validated by experimental values. The analytical data was found to be very close to experimental results and finite element simulation values. Findings from this study provide guidelines on system parameters that can be manipulated for more efficient performance in different ambient source conditions.