Dramatic enhancement of structure-borne wave energy harvesting using an elliptical acoustic mirror

Broadband structure-borne wave energy harvesting is reported by wave focusing using an elliptical acoustic mirror (EAM). The EAM is formed by an array of cylindrical stubs mounted along a semi-elliptical path on the surface of a plate. The array back-scatters incoming guided waves and focuses them at the focal location where a piezoelectric energy harvester is located. Multiple scattering simulations and experiments illustrate the broadband focusing characteristics of the EAM. More than an order of magnitude improvement in piezoelectric power generation is documented for an EAM-based energy harvester with respect to a free harvester over the 30-70 kHz frequency range. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4719098]