S Adhikari et al 2009 Smart Mater. Struct. 18 115005 doi:10.1088/0964-1726/18/11/115005
S Adhikari1, M I Friswell1 and D J Inman2,3
Show affiliationsEnergy harvesting for the purpose of powering low power electronic sensor systems has received explosive attention in the last few years. Most works using deterministic approaches focusing on using the piezoelectric effect to harvest ambient vibration energy have concentrated on cantilever beams at resonance using harmonic excitation. Here, using a stochastic approach, we focus on using a stack configuration and harvesting broadband vibration energy, a more practically available ambient source. It is assumed that the ambient base excitation is stationary Gaussian white noise, which has a constant power-spectral density across the frequency range considered. The mean power acquired from a piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvester subjected to random base excitation is derived using the theory of random vibrations. Two cases, namely the harvesting circuit with and without an inductor, have been considered. Exact closed-form expressions involving non-dimensional parameters of the electromechanical system have been given and illustrated using numerical examples.
46.40.-f Vibrations and mechanical waves
46.70.De Beams, plates and shells
77.65.Bn Piezoelectric and electrostrictive constants
07.07.Df Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing
Condensed matter: electrical, magnetic and optical
Issue 11 (November 2009)
Received 20 April 2009, in final form 21 June 2009
Published 11 September 2009
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