Energy harvesting performance of a dandelion-like multi-directional piezoelectric vibration energy harvester

To achieve effective harvesting of ambient vibration energy in different directions, this paper proposes a dandelion-like multi-directional piezoelectric vibration energy harvester (MD-PVEH). After theoretical design, analysis and optimization of the device, validation experiments were carried out, which shows that the dandelion-like MD-PVEH can harvest relatively more energy in different excitations, although it harvests less energy from excitation in individual directions (for example, the angle between excitation direction and X axis is pi/2 in XZ plane). Overall, this dandelion-like MD-PVEH with a load resistor of 8 k Omega can reach its maximum output power of about 0.28 mW and maximum energy conversion efficiency of 3% in the harmonic excitation which the frequency and amplitude are 22 Hz and 0.28 mm, respectively. It can meet the needs of many microelectronic devices. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.