Harvesting energy from a cantilever piezoelectric beam

Energy harvesting using piezoelectric material is not a new concept, but its small generation capability has not been attractive for mass energy generation. For this reason, little research has been done on the topic. Recently, wearable computer concepts, as well as small portable electrical devices, are a few motivations that have ignited the study of piezoelectric energy harvesting. The theory behind cantilever type piezoelectric elements is well known, as is the suppression of beam vibrations, but not from the context of extracting energy for later use. In this paper we analyze the governing equations of a unimorph beam in terms of the electrical energy that can be generated from base excitations with an eye toward developing design tools for energy harvesting hardware.