Vibration energy harvesting using a phononic crystal with point defect states

A vibration energy harvesting generator was studied in the present research using point-defect phononic crystal with piezoelectric material. By removing a rod from a perfect phononic crystal, a resonant cavity was formed. The elastic waves in the range of gap frequencies were all forbidden in any direction, while the waves with resonant frequency were localized and enhanced in the resonant cavity. The collected vibration energy was converted into electric energy by putting a polyvinylidene fluoride film in the middle of the defect. This structure can be used to simultaneously realize both vibration damping and broad-distributed vibration energy harvesting. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4788810]