PARAMETRIC STUDY OF A CANTILEVERED PIEZOELECTRIC ENERGY HARVESTER

This paper presents the theoretical findings from a parameter study on a conventional, unimorph, piezoelectric energy harvester. An analytical model has been developed which provides accurate representation of various geometrical changes, allowing confident predications in the power generated over a resistive load. One analysis has been carried out in this paper whereby the position, length and thickness of the piezoelectric layer are varied to maximise the power output of an energy harvester. The dimensions of the substrate layer are fixed at 50 × 5 × 0.7 mm. Through a parameter study, for an acceleration of 9.81 ms -2 , the power across a 100 kΩ resistor was increased by 67.6 % - from 0.734 mW to 1.23 mW.