A wide-band piezoelectric energy harvester with adjustable frequency through rotating the angle of the jointed beam

In this paper, we investigate the effects of a jointed beam system on the performance of a piezoelectric energy harvester. An experimental model composed of three piezoelectric plates attached to three aluminum beams was used for testing. Each aluminum beam has an additional jointed beam rotating freely. The rotating jointed beam is used to adjust the operational frequency of the piezoelectric energy harvester. This multi-beam system enables a wider operational frequency bandwidth of the energy harvester and therefore increases the energy harvesting efficiency.