Romain Guigon et al 2008 Smart Mater. Struct. 17 015038 doi:10.1088/0964-1726/17/01/015038
Romain Guigon1, Jean-Jacques Chaillout, Thomas Jager and Ghislain Despesse
Show affiliationsAt present, the energy autonomy of a microsystem is limited by the lifespan of the battery. Hence the development of an energy harvesting concept, whereby the energy needed to power the sensor is taken from the operating environment. However, there is no single solution suitable for all types of environment. In this paper, we look at a still unexploited source of energy: rain. Our system recovers the vibration energy from a piezoelectric flexible structure impacted by a water drop. This paper describes in detail the theoretical study undertaken to optimize the mechanical system.
77.65.-j Piezoelectricity and electromechanical effects
62.20.F- Deformation and plasticity
Soft matter, liquids and polymers
Issue 1 (February 2008)
Received 11 April 2007, in final form 28 September 2007
Published 11 January 2008
Romain Guigon et al 2008 Smart Mater. Struct. 17 015038
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