On the strain-gradient effects in micro piezoelectric-bimorph circular plate power harvesters

We analyze the first-order gradient effects in micro piezoelectric-bimorph circular plate (PBCP) power harvesters by including the first-order gradient terms in the energy density functions. Considering that the dimension of a PBCP is much smaller in the thickness direction than the in-plane dimensions, the gradient effects can be focused on analysis of the strain-gradient effects in the thickness direction through choosing the strains and the electric displacements as the independent constitutive variables. The paper has shown theoretically that the first-order gradient effects have induced shift in the natural frequency of a PBCP structure and resulted in a small change in the harvester performance.

[1]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  Improving power output for vibration-based energy scavengers , 2005, IEEE Pervasive Computing.

[2]  H. F. Tiersten,et al.  On the nonlinear equations of thermo-electroelasticity , 1971 .

[3]  Xuedong Chen,et al.  Dynamic Characteristics of Axially-Symmetrical Annular Corrugated Shell Piezoelectric Transducers , 2009 .

[4]  Huan Xue,et al.  The effects of first-order strain gradient in micro piezoelectric-bimorph power harvesters , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[5]  Huan Xue,et al.  Nonlinear interface between the piezoelectric harvesting structure and the modulating circuit of an energy harvester with a real storage battery , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

[6]  Hu Yuantai,et al.  Analysis of a Piezoelectric Bimorph Plate with a Central-Attached Mass as an Energy Harvester , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[7]  Jiashi Yang,et al.  Performance of a piezoelectric bimorph for scavenging vibration energy , 2005 .

[8]  Xikui Li,et al.  A version of Hill’s lemma for Cosserat continuum , 2009 .

[9]  L. Eric Cross,et al.  Flexoelectric polarization of barium strontium titanate in the paraelectric state , 2002 .

[10]  Yuantai Hu,et al.  Performance of a piezoelectric harvester in thickness-stretch mode of a plate. , 2005, IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control.

[11]  Jiashi Yang,et al.  An Introduction to the Theory of Piezoelectricity , 2004 .

[12]  Tahir Cagin,et al.  Dramatic enhancement in energy harvesting for a narrow range of dimensions in piezoelectric nanostructures , 2008 .

[13]  H. Fang,et al.  Analysis of a rotating elastic beam with piezoelectric films as an angular rate sensor , 2002, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[14]  Neha Sharma,et al.  Electromechanical coupling in nonpiezoelectric materials due to nanoscale nonlocal size effects: Green's function solutions and embedded inclusions , 2006 .

[15]  Jiashi Yang,et al.  Electric field gradient effects in anti-plane problems of polarized ceramics , 2004 .

[16]  Xuedong Chen,et al.  High-frequency vibrations of corrugated cylindrical piezoelectric shells , 2008 .

[17]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  A study of low level vibrations as a power source for wireless sensor nodes , 2003, Comput. Commun..