Performance Assessment and Comparison of Two Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters Developed for Pavement Application: Case Study

To advance the development of piezoelectric energy harvesters, this study designed and manufactured bridge-unit-based and pile-unit-based piezoelectric devices. An indoor material testing system and accelerated pavement test equipment were used to test the electrical performance, mechanical performance, and electromechanical coupling performance of the devices. The results showed that the elastic modulus of the pile structure device was relatively higher than that of the bridge structure device. However, the elastic modulus of the two devices should be improved to avoid attenuation in the service performance and fatigue life caused by the stiffness difference. Furthermore, the electromechanical conversion coefficients of the two devices were smaller than 10% and insensitive to the load magnitude and load frequency. Moreover, the two devices can harvest 3.4 mW and 2.6 mW under the wheel load simulated by the one-third scale model mobile load simulator, thus meeting the supply requirements of low-power sensors. The elastic modulus, electromechanical conversion coefficients, and electric performance of the pile structure device were more reliable than those of the bridge structure device, indicating a better application prospect in road engineering.

Automated summary

This study designed and manufactured bridge-unit-based and pile-unit-based piezoelectric devices, and found that the pile structure device has higher elastic modulus and more reliable electrical performance compared to the bridge structure device, indicating better application prospects in road engineering.