Energy harvesting with piezoelectric drum transducer

Piezoelectric materials can convert ambient vibrations into electrical energy. In this letter, the capability of harvesting the electrical energy from mechanical vibrations in a dynamic environment through a piezoelectric drum transducer has been investigated. Under a prestress of 0.15 N and a cyclic stress of 0.7 N, a power of 11 mW was generated at the resonance frequency of the transducer (590 Hz) across an 18 k Omega resistor. It is found that the energy from the transducer increases while the resonance frequency of the transducer decreases when the prestress increases. The results demonstrate the potential of the drum transducer in energy harvesting. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.