Energy harvesting using a PZT ceramic multilayer stack

In this paper, the interdisciplinary energy harvesting issues on piezoelectric energy harvesting were investigated using a ‘33’ mode (mechanical stress and/or electric field are in parallel to the polarization direction) lead zirconate titanate multilayer piezoelectric stack (PZT-Stack). Key energy harvesting characteristics including the generated electrical energy/power in the PZT-Stack, the mechanical to electrical energy conversion efficiency, the power delivered from the PZT-Stack to a resistive load, the electrical charge/energy transferred from the PZT-Stack to a super-capacitor were systematically addressed. Theoretical models for power generation and delivery to a resistive load were proposed and experimentally affirmed. In a quasi-static regime, 70% generated electrical powers were delivered to matched resistive loads. A 35% mechanical to electrical energy conversion efficiency, which is more than 4 times higher than other reports, for the PZT-Stack had been obtained. The generated electrical power and power density were significantly higher than those from a similar weight and size cantilever-type piezoelectric harvester in both resonance and off-resonance modes. In addition, our study indicated that the capacitance and piezoelectric coefficient of the PZT-Stack were strongly dependent on the dynamic stress. (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)