A new energy harvester design for high power output at low frequencies

The energy harvesters (EHs) using resonant mechanism have encountered two major issues: low output power scavenged from low frequency vibrations, and limited effectiveness of harvesting mechanism in a narrow range near resonant frequency. To overcome these issues, we have proposed a piezoelectric EH comprising a composite cantilever and a proof mass at the free end. The composite cantilever is formed by a piezoelectric bimorph and a polymer beam (soft spring) mechanically connected along the longitudinal direction. Comparing with the resonant frequency of 275 Hz of a standalone piezoelectric bimorph, the composite cantilever design enables the resonant frequency of the EH to be as low as 36 Hz. Moreover, this kind of EH is demonstrated to be 3.12 times and 1.32 times (at 0.1 g) more efficient at output power generation than a standalone piezoelectric bimorph and piezoelectric bimorph with a proof mass at the free end, respectively. With the aid of spring hardening effect, the operating bandwidth (BW) can be increased from 5 Hz to 16.4 Hz. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.