Energy harvesting from low frequency applications using piezoelectric materials

Articles you may be interested in Piezoelectric energy harvester converting strain energy into kinetic energy for extremely low frequency operation Appl. Energy harvesting from ambient low-frequency magnetic field using magneto-mechano-electric composite cantilever Appl. Frequency up-converted wide bandwidth piezoelectric energy harvester using mechanical impact Nonlinear output properties of cantilever driving low frequency piezoelectric energy harvester Appl. Cantilever driving low frequency piezoelectric energy harvester using single crystal material 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 In an effort to eliminate the replacement of the batteries of electronic devices that are difficult or impractical to service once deployed, harvesting energy from mechanical vibrations or impacts using piezoelectric materials has been researched over the last several decades. However, a majority of these applications have very low input frequencies. This presents a challenge for the researchers to optimize the energy output of piezoelectric energy harvesters, due to the relatively high elastic moduli of piezoelectric materials used to date. This paper reviews the current state of research on piezoelectric energy harvesting devices for low frequency (0–100 Hz) applications and the methods that have been developed to improve the power outputs of the piezoelectric energy harvesters. Various key aspects that contribute to the overall performance of a piezoelectric energy harvester are discussed, including geometries of the piezoelectric element, types of piezoelectric material used, techniques employed to match the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element to input frequency of the host structure, and electronic circuits specifically designed for energy harvesters. V C 2014 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.