DESIGN OF VIBRATION-SOURCED PIEZOELECTRIC HARVESTER FOR

BATTERY-POWERED SENSOR NETWORKS

A THESIS REPORT

Presented to the Department of Electrical Engineering

California State University, Long Beach

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements of the Degree

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering

Committee Members:

Mohammad Mozumdar, Ph.D. (Chair)

Aftab Ahmed, Ph.D.
Seok-Chul Kwon, Ph.D.

College Designee:

Antonella Sciortino, Ph.D.

By Rashmi Subbaramaiah

B.E., 2014, Visvesvaraya Technological University, India

December 2017




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 ABSTRACT

DESIGN OF VIBRATION-SOURCED PIEZOELECTRIC HARVESTER FOR

BATTERY-POWERED SENSOR NETWORKS

By

Rashmi Subbaramaiah

December 2017

Energy harvesting is an important aspect in the field of energy and power systems.

Utilizing road vibrations as the source to harvest energy has gained demand previously and

advanced study on implementing distinctive designs for vibration-sourced harvesters are

currently in progress. A vibration-sourced piezoelectric energy harvester design with road

vibrations as the input source is proposed in this thesis and the outputs to validate the harvester

design are simulated from the software COMSOL Multiphysics. The design comprises of two

PZT-5J mass-spring oriented cantilever bimorphs to capture the road vibrations and three

silicone rubbers to increase the stress applied on the bimorphs. A productive piezoelectric energy

harvester is implemented to work in low and high vibration conditions and maximum power

output of 57mW is obtained by the simulation. The results obtained prove piezoelectric energy

harvesting design as an efficient design that can be used to serve sensors and wireless

applications.

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Mohammad Mozumdar for constantly supporting

me throughout my research, for being an amazing mentor and for providing an opportunity to

work under him. It was my pleasure to complete my thesis under his guidance.

I am thankful to Dr. Aftab Ahmed for helping me improvise my thesis and for providing

guidance in writing the journal paper.

I thank, the Department of Electrical Engineering for granting permission to access the

laboratory to complete my thesis. I am pleased by the excellent support provided by COE writing

resource lab and thank them for editing and guiding me in writing my thesis report.

I am grateful to my parents for always encouraging and upholding my dreams.

iii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... iii

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... v

LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................... viii

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1

2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................. 4

3. PROPOSED DESIGN ....................................................................................................... 8

4. PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT .............................................................................................. 9

5. PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS ................................................................................... 16

6. CANTILEVER BEAM .................................................................................................... 18

7. SILICONE RUBBER ...................................................................................................... 20

8. VIBRATION ON ROAD ................................................................................................ 21

9. DESIGN OF THE HARVESTER ................................................................................... 22

10. MODELING AND SIMULATION ................................................................................. 24

11. RESULTS ........................................................................................................................ 26

12. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK ........................................................................ 32

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 33

iv
 LIST OF TABLES

1. Material Properties ................................................................................................................... 24

2. Comparison of Stress Values Produced With and Without Silicone Rubber .......................... 27

3. Comparison of Output Values for Harvester Design With and Without Rubber .................... 29

4. Load and Acceleration Dependence Outputs ........................................................................... 31

v
 LIST OF FIGURES

1. Piezoelectric energy harvesting under the influence of pressure ............................................... 9

2. Piezoelectric energy harvesting under the influence of heat ................................................... 10

3. Piezoelectric energy harvesting under the influence of vibration ............................................ 10

4. Direct and indirect piezoelectric effect .................................................................................... 10

5. Working principle of piezoelectric effect ................................................................................ 11

6. Equivalent electrical circuit of piezoelectric effect ................................................................. 12

7. Modes of piezoelectric effect ................................................................................................... 14

8. Natural and biological piezoelectric materials ......................................................................... 16

9. Piezoelectric generator and transformer .................................................................................. 17

10. Piezoelectric unimorph transducer ......................................................................................... 17

11. Cantilever beam structure ...................................................................................................... 18

12. Single and double cantilever beam ........................................................................................ 18

13. Equivalent cantilever beam .................................................................................................... 19

14. Cantilever based piezoelectric, electrostatic, and electromagnetic harvester ........................ 19

15. Silicone rubber sheet .............................................................................................................. 20

16. Piezoelectric energy harvester in the asphalt layer of road.................................................... 21

17. Proposed piezoelectric energy harvester design .................................................................... 23

18. Steps for harvester modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics ...................................................... 25

19. Meshed design without and with silicone rubber .................................................................. 25

20. Stress diagram of harvester design without silicone rubber .................................................. 26

21. Stress diagram of harvester design with silicone rubber ....................................................... 26

22. Frequency response graph of harvester design without silicone rubber ................................ 28

vi
23. Frequency response graph of harvester design with silicone rubber ..................................... 29

24. Load dependence output at 145Hz for the harvester ............................................................. 30

25. Acceleration dependence output at 145Hz for the harvester ................................................. 30

vii
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CALTRANS California Department of Transportation

viii
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In the earlier period, the embedded system design, wireless communication and remote

application development depended on batteries as the source of energy. Growth of computation

in the field of embedded systems, wireless sensor networks and other remote applications

requisites a powered energy system for a long-term usage. The available resources in the

environment can be used to design a self-powered device. This method of harvesting energy

from the available ambient sources in the environment is known as energy harvesting or energy

scavenging. Solar, wind, and thermal energy sources are utilized drastically to develop various

energy harvesting methods and currently, energy harvesting method using the kinetic energy is

progressing in the field of power systems. The kinetic energy harvesting method utilizes

mechanical vibrations present in the environment to derive the power. The vibrations originate

from the vehicles on roads, building construction and bridges and are efficiently utilized to

generate power for wireless sensors, traffic lights, and other remote devices.

The conversion of mechanical power to electrical power is the working principle of the

kinetic energy harvesting and employs two steps. First, the available vibrations are captured and

converted to mechanical power and later, the mechanical power is used to generate the electric

power. The generated electric power is then stored and supplied to the required applications. The

kinetic energy harvesting method is accomplished by one of the three methods namely

piezoelectric, electromagnetic, or electrostatic. Among the three methods, the piezoelectric

method is more feasible, easy to design, cost efficient, and extensively used in energy harvesting

applications due to its capability of capturing the vibrations and generating maximum electric

power.

1
 Road vibrations and pressure released by the vehicles are the most prominent

environmental resources available for the piezoelectric energy harvesting method. Vehicle tires

impose force on the surface of the road and the force, in turn, induces vibration with a resonant

frequency. The ambient vibrations produced by the vehicles are generally low in amplitude and

hence piezoelectric harvesting design is structured in different ways to upsurge the resonance.

One of the significant parameters required in designing the piezoelectric energy harvester is

resonant frequency and it varies with vibrations produced by the vehicle. A passenger vehicle

produces a resonant frequency of 1.2 Hz and a vehicle travelling at a speed of 65mph produces a

resonant frequency of 35 Hz. Israel and Italy have successfully implemented piezoelectric energy

harvester in their highways and CALTRANS has recently proposed a pilot project on vibration-

sourced piezoelectric harvester to determine the power produced in the freeways [1].

The designing of the piezoelectric energy harvester begins with modeling and simulation.

The simulation model represents the behavioral and functional characteristics of a system and

provides guidance for the successful implementation of the design in a real-time environment.

The simulation software tools namely ANSYS, MATLAB, COMSOL Multiphysics and

SOLIDWORKS are the popular tools available in the industry to simplify the process of

designing and modeling. Among them, COMSOL Multiphysics is emerging as an advantageous

tool due to the availability of wide range of in-built materials properties. The tool integrates with

other software tools like MATLAB and SOLIDWORKS and provides ease of designing. The

piezoelectric energy harvesting method proposed in this thesis is designed and simulated in

COMSOL Multiphysics. The results obtained from the COMSOL Multiphysics tool validates the

proposed piezoelectric energy harvesting design as an efficient and an exercisable method to

implement in the field of sensor and wireless applications.

2
 Objectives

The overall concept of piezoelectric energy harvesting system is used in this thesis. The

objectives of this thesis are as follows:

 To design a piezoelectric energy harvesting system with road vibrations as the input

source.

 To provide an approach to support low vibration conditions.

 To differentiate the effects of stress on the design.

 To produce maximum power output and verify the output for varied values of load

resistance and acceleration.

3
 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Review of previous research is the foremost step for this thesis. Exploring the ideas

proposed in research provides practical information required for our own research. The following

papers provide a brief description of energy harvesting systems and the simulation of the

piezoelectric energy harvester.

A Survey of Energy Harvesting Sources for Embedded Systems [2]

Embedded system design, wireless sensor networks, and remote applications require a

perpetual source of energy. Batteries supplied the energy for these applications for a limited span

of time but failed to be a reliable source of energy for a long duration. The drawback of batteries

led to the utilization of energy harvesting methods to fulfill the need for a continuous energy

source. Energy harvesting is a process of generating power from the available energy sources in

the environment and then storing the power to serve various applications. The ambient energy

sources available in the environment are sunlight, mechanical energy, and thermal energy.

The guaranteed availability of sunlight in certain places paved a way for the development

of photovoltaic cells. Photovoltaic cells or solar cells convert the light energy into electric

energy. Silicon’s high sensitivity to light is beneficial for the advancement of the solar energy

harvesting method. A network of solar energy harvesting sensor nodes called heliomotes was

built to power the sensors and store the excess energy.

Vibrations create an inertial movement to produce electrical energy. There are three types

of vibration-based energy harvesting method: piezoelectric, electro-static, and electromagnetic.

The piezoelectric method generates electricity from pressure. The electrostatic energy harvesting

method is structured with capacitive plates. The vibrations cause separation of the plates and

4
generates electricity. The electromagnetic method works on the principle of electromagnetic

induction and comprises of a coil, permanent magnets, and a cantilever beam to extract

vibrations and in turn generates electricity.

Thermal generators use the principle of thermoelectricity to generate power. The

thermoelectric devices are widely used in space and terrestrial applications. Different techniques

are employed to harness power from thermal energy. These techniques incorporate methods to

excerpt heat from heat pumps and sunlight to generate power. This literature is a complete guide

for understanding the concepts of energy harvesting methods and introduces piezoelectric energy

harvesting method, which is used in this thesis.

Review of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Based on Vibration [3]

A detailed explanation about piezoelectric effect, piezoelectric materials, and different

design structures is required to build an efficient vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvester.

The influence of pressure on materials like Rochelle salt and quartz led to the generation of

electricity. These materials possess the characteristics of the piezoelectric effect and the nature of

the piezoelectric effect differs when used in sensor and actuators. Pressure dependent electricity

generation is termed as direct piezoelectric effect and is used in sensor applications. The effect

which deforms the piezoelectric material by supplying voltage is termed as a converse

piezoelectric effect and is used in actuator applications.

A piezoelectric energy harvester can be built in the form of four prominent structures

namely cantilever, cymbal, stack, or shell. The cantilever structure is a simple structure, which

produces maximum deformation to generate electricity. Cymbal structure is designed to use

transverse external force and produces a maximum in-plane strain in a micro energy harvesting

system. A stack piezoelectric harvester consists of stacks of piezoelectric materials and produces

5
maximum electricity. The shell shaped design is a high profiled strain structure and produces

electricity from torsional vibration.

The piezoelectric energy harvesting structures are incorporated with piezopolymers.

Previously Rochelle salt and quartz were the naturally occurring piezoelectric materials that were

used to generate the electricity, but the continued research on polymers helped scientists

synthesize piezopolymers namely SrTiO3, aluminum nitride and PZT to maximize the electricity

generated. The piezoelectric effect works in two modes namely, mode 31 and mode 33. The

number indicates the generation of voltage in a 3-D plane dimension. A simple design was built

by placing piezoelectric material in a shoe to demonstrate the working principle of the

piezoelectric energy harvesting method.

The method of implementing piezoelectric effect with structured piezopolymers requires

a harvesting circuit. Previously, the piezo harvesters were designed with rectifiers like vacuum

tube diodes, mercury arc valves, silicon based switches, and P-N junction diodes. Among these,

the P-N junction diode is a simplest way for rectifying the energy circuit. Followed by P-N

junction, the invention of a buck-boost DC-DC converter and a rectifier with inductor increased

the performance of the harvesting technique. The selection of a powerful energy harvesting

circuit increases the efficiency of conversion and decreases the wastage of energy.

The last step of the energy harvesting method is energy storage. In the preceding period

of the energy harvesting development, the researchers used capacitors and rechargeable batteries

as the storage devices. The rechargeable batteries posed leakage issues and were a drawback for

storing the energy. Further studies on capacitor were conducted in terms of charging and

discharging properties and super capacitors were proposed to replace the batteries. This literature

provided advanced knowledge about the concepts of piezoelectric effect and the advantages of

6
using different harvesting structures that are encapsulated with piezopolymers. The method of

generating electricity from vibrations using a cantilever structure is utilized in this thesis design.

Design and Simulation of Piezoelectric Cantilever Beam Based on Mechanical Vibration

for Energy Harvesting Application [4]

Simulation is performed before implementing the design in a real-time environment. This

literature introduces a piezoelectric energy harvesting design that is built in SOLIDWORKS and

simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics. A 3-D harvester design was developed using unimorph

PZT-5H cantilever structure and a power output of about 14.85µW was produced. The

simulation outputs were verified for change in the displacement values and stress factor.

Application of pressure on the unimorph cantilever led to a change in displacement and resulted

in the movement of charges in the piezoelectric material, thus generating the required power.

The simulation was performed within the frequency domain of 320Hz- 380Hz and with

an acceleration of 1g. A maximum displacement of 70.9µm, a maximum voltage of 595.5mV,

and a maximum stress of about 7.96 ×105 N/m 2 was produced at 345.75Hz. The design was

tested for different values of load resistance and acceleration. Initially, the maximum

displacement and voltage were obtained at 345.75Hz. The value of load resistance was varied

from 101Ω - 108Ω and a maximum power of 14.85µW was produced for 12.6KOhm of

resistance at 345.75Hz. The output power increased with the increase in the acceleration value.

An introduction about the COMSOL Multiphysics is provided in this literature and further used

in proposed thesis design.

7
 CHAPTER 3

PROPOSED DESIGN

This thesis proposes a design that accommodates the concepts proposed in the literature

review. Following is an overview of the proposed design.

 The harvester is designed with mass-spring oriented cantilever beam.

 Two piezoelectric bimorphs are used with PZT-5J as the piezoelectric material and

copper as the substrate. The bimorphs are built in the form of a cantilever beam with

proof mass at one end and clamped on the other end. The proof mass and clamped end

are made of structural steel.

 Three silicone rubbers are placed at the top of first bimorph beam, between the bimorph

beams and below the second bimorph beam.

 Simulation is performed in COMSOL Multiphysics. The design is simulated with road

vibrations as the input source. The piezoelectric bimorphs bend under vibrations and thus

produce the required power. Silicone rubbers are used to increase the stress and to

produce power under low vibration conditions.

8
 CHAPTER 4

PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT

History

The word piezo is derived from the Greek word “piezen,” which means “press.” The

demonstration of the piezoelectric effect was first made in the year 1880 by Pierre Curie and

Jacques Curie. The brothers demonstrated the concepts of piezoelectricity on crystals like quartz,

Rochelle salt, topaz, cane sugar, and tourmaline. A year later, Gabriel Lippman subjected quartz

and Rochelle salt to a voltage and observed the mechanical deformation in the crystals. The

observation was later defined as indirect piezoelectric effect. Later, the application of

piezoelectric effect was examined on sonar devices during World War I. The successful

implementation of piezoelectric effect in sonar led to an intense research on the piezoelectric

effect for usage in other applications [5].

Definition

Initially, the piezoelectric effect was defined as the generation of electricity from the

applied force. Later researchers proved that the heat and wind vibrations also produced

electricity in the piezoelectric materials. Currently, the piezoelectric effect is defined as the

ability of certain materials to generate electricity in response to force, heat, or vibrations. Figure

1, Figure 2, and Figure 3 illustrate the piezoelectric effect under pressure, heat, and vibration.

FIGURE 1. Piezoelectric energy harvesting under the influence of pressure [6].

9
FIGURE 2. Piezoelectric energy harvesting under the influence of heat [7].

FIGURE 3. Piezoelectric energy harvesting under the influence of vibration [8].

Direct and Indirect Piezoelectric Effect

The piezoelectric effect possesses linear electromechanical reversible interaction in the

mechanical and electrical state. The reversible process is termed as direct piezoelectric effect or

an indirect piezoelectric effect. The generation of electricity by applied force, heat, or vibration

is defined as a direct piezoelectric effect. On the other hand, the mechanical deformation of the

piezoelectric materials caused by an applied voltage is known as an indirect piezoelectric effect.

Figure 4 represents direct and indirect piezoelectric effect.

FIGURE 4. Direct and indirect piezoelectric effect [9].

10
 The direct piezoelectric effect is used in sensor applications and an indirect piezoelectric

effect is used in actuator applications. Piezoelectric sensor applications include engine knock

sensors, pressure sensors and sonar equipment. In day-to-day applications, the direct

piezoelectric effect is used in microphones and gas lighters. On the other hand, the piezoelectric

actuator applications include diesel fuel injectors, fast response solenoids, optical adjustment,

ultrasonic cleaning and welding. Simple applications like motors and relays work on the

principle of indirect piezoelectric effect. The major application of direct piezoelectric effect is

evident in energy harvesting system and is used in the design proposed in this thesis.

Working Principle

The piezoelectric effect works based on the principle of compression, which shift

negative and positive charges in the material. The charges inside the piezoelectric materials shift

under force, heat, or vibration to generate a voltage. On the other hand, the piezoelectric effect

also works based on the principle of expansion, which causes mechanical deformation of the

material, when subjected to a voltage. The principle of compression is chosen in this thesis to

harvest the energy. The movement of charges in the materials is achieved by various

methodologies and bending force approach is the preferred method chosen for the piezoelectric

energy harvesting. Figure 5 illustrates the working principle of piezoelectric energy harvesting

by bending force approach.

FIGURE 5. Working principle of piezoelectric effect.

11
 From Figure 5, we can see that, the applied force F bends the piezoelectric material and

causes a change in displacement z. The displacement shifts the charges in the piezoelectric

material and constitutes an electric current I. Equation (1) and (2) represent applied force and the

generated current [10].

= + ( ) (1)

( )= ( ) (2)

In the equations above, is the stiffness factor, α is the force factor, z is the

displacement occurred, V is the voltage produced, and i(t) is the current generated.

The equivalent electrical circuit of a piezoelectric energy harvester is represented in the

form of a transformer. The primary transformer represents the mechanical circuit that converts

the vibrations to mechanical power and the secondary transformer represents the electrical circuit

that generates current from the converted mechanical power. Figure 6 depicts the equivalent

circuit model for piezoelectric energy harvesting method.

FIGURE 6. Equivalent electrical circuit of piezoelectric effect.

The equations governing the circuit are as follows [11]:

( )
( )= ( )+ ( )+ + ( ) (3)

( )
( )= ( )+ (4)

In the equations (3) and (4), L is impedance, C is the damped capacitance, R is the

damped resistance, is the piezoelectric capacitance, and S is the mechanical strain.

12
 Mathematical Modeling

The piezoelectric effect is a combined effect of the linear electrical behavior of the

material and Hooke’s law for linear elastic materials. The electric field produced due to the

change in displacement determines the linear electrical behavior and the stress, and strain factors

determine the linear elastic property. Linear electric behavior is given by

= (5)

Hooke’s law for linear elastic model is given by

= (6)

In equation (5) and equation (6), S is the mechanical strain, T is the applied mechanical

stress, D is the displacement vector, E is the electrical field vector, and is the Cartesian tensor.

Equation (1) and equation (2) are extended in terms of mechanical and electrical form to

understand the behavioral condition of the piezoelectric effect as follows [12]:

= + (7)

= + (8)

Equation (7) and equation (8) represent direct piezoelectric effect and indirect

piezoelectric effect respectively. The Cartesian coordinates x, y, and z represent the value of “ij”

by numbers 1,2 and 3. is the direct piezoelectric effect matrix, where subscript ‘i’ indicates

the voltage generated along the axis and subscript ‘j’ indicates the direction of applied stress.

is the indirect piezoelectric effect matrix, where subscript ‘i’ indicates the direction of change in

displacement and subscript ‘j’ indicates the applied voltage along the axis. is the elasticity

matrix in presence of constant electric field, where subscript ‘i’ indicates the direction of the

strain and the subscript ‘j’ indicates direction of the stress. is the permittivity matrix.

13
 Modes of Operation

Piezoelectric effect operates in two coupling modes namely mode 31, which is known as

transverse mode, and mode 33, which is known as longitudinal mode. The number indicates the

Cartesian coordinates x, y and z. In mode 31, the piezoelectric material is subjected to the force

perpendicular to the poling direction and the piezoelectric material is bent to produce electricity.

In mode 33, the material is subjected to force in the same direction of poling and the

piezoelectric material is stretched to produce electricity. Most of the energy harvesting

application prefer mode 31. Figure 7 illustrates mode 31 and mode 33.

FIGURE 7. Modes of piezoelectric effect [13].

Piezoelectric Terminologies

The terminologies and constants explain the behavior of a concept. The following are

some of the terminologies of piezoelectric effect [14].

Piezoelectric charge constant: It is the ratio of strain to applied electric field and is given

by

= (9)

Piezoelectric voltage constant: It is the ratio of electric field to mechanical stress and is

given by

= (10)
14
 Young’s modulus: It is the ratio of stress to strain and is given by

= (11)

Dielectric constant: It is defined as ratio of permittivity of material to permittivity of free

space and is given by

= (12)

Electromechanical coupling: It is defined as ratio of electrical energy to mechanical

energy or vice versa and is given by

= (13)
ℎ

Or

ℎ
= (14)

Advantages of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System

The piezoelectric energy harvesting method is gaining importance in the field of

vibrational energy harvesting. The piezoelectric materials are readily available in the market and

are cost efficient. The harvester does not require external voltage to initiate the process and the

designing is easy with limited fabrication process. The harvester works efficiently with

cantilever beam structure and generates high output voltages.

15
 CHAPTER 5

PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS

Naturally Occurring Materials

The piezoelectric effect was first observed in naturally occurring crystals like quartz,

Rochelle salt and topaz. Later, berlinite, lead titanate, sucrose, and tourmaline crystals were

included in the list. In 1990, piezoelectric effect was studied on bone and a mathematical proof

was derived. Based on the mathematical proof, the piezoelectric effect was detected in materials

like tendon, silk, wood, enamel, dentin, and DNA [15]. Figure 8 represents pictures of some

natural and biological piezoelectric materials.

FIGURE 8. Natural and biological piezoelectric materials [16].

Synthetic Materials

The naturally occurring piezoelectric materials cannot be directly utilized in

technological applications. However, further research led to the development of piezoelectric

synthetic materials with properties equivalent to the naturally occurring materials. Barium
16
Titanate was the first synthetic piezoelectric material developed and later Aluminium Nitride

(AIN), Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF), and Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) were discovered.

The piezoelectric devices available in the market are developed using these synthetic materials.

Among them, PZT and PVDF are extensively used for energy harvesting applications. Figure 9

and Figure 10 represent the piezoelectric devices made of synthetic materials.

FIGURE 9. Piezoelectric generator and transformer [17].

FIGURE 10. Piezoelectric unimorph transducer [17].

Soft and Hard Piezoelectric Materials

Piezoelectric materials are manufactured as hard or soft materials [18]. Hard piezoelectric

materials have low permittivity, low piezoelectric constant, low electromechanical factor, and are

used for actuator applications. On the other hand, soft piezoelectric materials have large

electromechanical coupling factor, higher permittivity, large piezoelectric constants, and are used

for sensing applications. The major application of soft materials is found in energy harvesting.
17
 CHAPTER 6

CANTILEVER BEAM

Description

The cantilever beam is a simply supported rigid beam or plate fixed at one end and

flexible in movement. Optional free mass is placed at the free end of the cantilever to withstand

the force applied against the momentum. The cantilever beam is structured as a double cantilever

beam or a single cantilever beam. A double cantilever beam consists of two layers of the beam

and is used in heavy duty applications, in construction of bridges, and buildings. A single

cantilever beam consists of one single beam, which is used in energy harvesting applications and

in wings of a stationary aircraft. Figure 11 and Figure 12 illustrate the cantilever beam and the

types of the cantilever beam.

FIGURE 11. Cantilever beam structure [19].

FIGURE 12. Single and double cantilever beam [20] [21].

18
 Cantilever Beam and Mass-Spring System

The cantilever beam is a continuum mechanical system with distributed mass and elastic

components. The cantilever beam is structured as a discrete mass-spring system for computing

the vibrations, and to serve elastic applications. A proof mass is placed at the free end of the

cantilever to methodically complement the mass-spring system. The spring constant ‘k’ of a

cantilever beam and mass-spring system are equivalent and hence suitable for energy harvesting

applications. Figure 13 is an equivalent cantilever beam, structured as a mass-spring system.

FIGURE 13. Equivalent cantilever beam [22].

The structured cantilever beam works well in low resonant frequency conditions with

high-stress generation and hence, the kinetic energy harvesting methods utilize it to capture the

low frequency vibrations and to generate electricity. Among the methods, the piezoelectric

energy harvester is more compatible with the structured cantilever beam and hence used in this

thesis. Figure 14 represents three different kinetic energy harvesting methods using a cantilever

beam.

FIGURE 14. Cantilever based piezoelectric, electrostatic and electromagnetic harvester

[23] - [25].

19
 CHAPTER 7

SILICONE RUBBER

Elastomers are amorphous polymers with segmental and elastic motion, which are

durable in high temperatures. Stretching capability of an elastomer is twice its length and

resumes back to its original shape. Silicone is a well-known elastomer made of silicon, carbon,

hydrogen, and oxygen with high binding energy and tolerance to temperature between -55 °C to

+300 °C. The non-reactive and stable property of silicone rubber facilitates ease of

manufacturing and is utilized in garment industry, food industry, medical devices and in-home

hardware appliances [26]. Figure 15 represents silicone rubber sheet available in industry.

FIGURE 15. Silicone rubber sheet [27].

Silicone Rubber in Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

Silicone rubber properties such as thermal conductivity, dielectric strength, elongation,

tensile strength, and compression, are suitable for an energy harvesting application. Thermal

conductivity and dielectric strength capability make silicone rubber resistant to heat and high

voltage. The elongation, tensile strength and compression properties of the silicone rubber are

utilized to provide continuous bending movement of the piezoelectric bimorphs to produce

power.

20
 CHAPTER 8

VIBRATION ON ROAD

The number of vehicles is increasing day-by-day and each vehicle produces vibrations.

These vibrations are the renewable source of energy that are utilized to develop energy

harvesting systems. The vehicle tires apply pressure on the road surface made of asphalt. The

asphalt is the rigid layer which produces vibrations under applied pressure and the vibrations

passes along the different layers of the road. A vehicle travelling at an accelerating speed of

0.005m/s2-2m/s2 produces a vibrational frequency of about 4-80Hz [28]. This vibrational

frequency range is sufficient for designing an energy harvesting system. Embedding

piezoelectric harvesters inside the asphalt layer is one of the best implementation of kinetic

energy harvesting method to generate electricity. Figure 16 illustrates the piezoelectric harvester

embedded inside the asphalt layer of the road.

FIGURE 16. Piezoelectric energy harvester in the asphalt layer of road [29].

21
 CHAPTER 9

DESIGN OF THE HARVESTER

This thesis proposes a new design for a piezoelectric energy harvester comprised of a

bimorph cantilever structure and with road vibration as the input source. The bimorph consists of

two layers of piezoelectric material and a substrate layer sandwiched between the two

piezoelectric layers.

Mathematical Proof

The piezoelectric bimorph cantilever is structured as a mass-spring system to support the

vibration conditions. A mathematical formula is derived to demonstrate the dependence of

generated voltage on applied stress. According to ohm’s law, voltage with respect to length is

given by

= × (15)

where E is the electric field and L is the length of the material.

From equation (10), voltage constant can be re-written as

= × (16)

Stress is defined as force applied to a cross-sectional area and is given by

= (17)

where F is force applied and A is the cross-sectional area.

Substituting equation (16) in equation (15), we get

= × × (18)

Substituting equation (17) in equation (18), we get

× ×
= (19)

22
 From equation (18) and equation (19), it is evident that voltage is proportional to the

stress produced by the applied force and to the length of the piezoelectric material. The increase

in length produces maximum displacement at the end of the beam and thus increases the voltage

[30].

Design of the Model

A 2-D design was constructed based on the results obtained in the mathematical proof

Two piezoelectric bimorphs with PZT-5J as the piezoelectric material and copper as the substrate

material were placed in crisscross pattern. Three silicone rubbers were placed at the top, middle

and bottom positions of the piezoelectric bimorph to increase the stress applied on bimorphs.

Structural steel was the material chosen for proof mass and clamped fixed end. Figure 17

illustrates the diagram of the proposed design.

FIGURE 17. Proposed piezoelectric energy harvester design.

23
 CHAPTER 10

MODELING AND SIMULATION

COMSOL Multiphysics was the simulation tool used for modeling and simulation.

COMSOL is a widely used in-built simulation software with preset material properties used for

designing and is linked with other simulation tools like MATLAB and SOLIDWORKS.

In COMSOL, the design was built with resistance of 12Kohm and acceleration of 1g as

parameters. Piezoelectric bimorph and copper were built with the dimension of 79×1.55 (length

× height (thickness) in mm), proof mass with the dimension of 20×4(mm), and clamped end with

the dimension of 4×10 (mm). The top and bottom silicone rubber had dimension of 15×10 (mm)

and center silicone rubber had dimension of 15×14.45 (mm). The blocks were built, and the

materials were assigned respectively and the force factor for body load and fixed constraint

boundary were selected in solid mechanics. In electro-statistics field, ground was assigned to top

and bottom part of piezoelectric bimorph and the terminals was applied to top and bottom part of

copper. Resistance value was enabled in electrical circuit section. Finally, mesh was applied to

the design. Simulation was performed with and without the silicone rubber to differentiate the

stress produced. The results were verified for frequency dependence, load dependence and

acceleration dependence. Table 1 represents the property of materials used in the design.

TABLE 1. Material Properties

PROPERTIES PZT-5J COPPER SILICONE STRUCTURAL STEEL

Young’s modulus (Pa) 60×10 110×10 0.05×109 200×10

Density 7400 8960 2.3×10-6 7850

Poisson’s ratio 0.31 0.35 0.49 0.33

24
 Figure 18 illustrates the modeling and simulation steps. Figure 19 represents meshed

model of the energy harvester design with and without silicone rubber.

FIGURE 18. Steps for harvester modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics.

FIGURE 19. Meshed design without and with silicone rubber.

25
 CHAPTER 11

RESULTS

Stress Simulation

Simulation results were first verified for the stress produced by the proposed design with

and without using silicone rubber. Figure 20 and Figure 21 represent bending movement and

simulated stress for the piezoelectric energy harvester.

FIGURE 20. Stress diagram of harvester design without silicone rubber.

FIGURE 21. Stress diagram of harvester design with silicone rubber.

26
TABLE 2. Comparison of the Stress Values Produced With and Without Silicone Rubber

DESIGN MAX STRESS (N/m2) MIN STRESS (N/m2)

Without silicone rubber 1.25 × 107 1.08 × 107

With silicone rubber 5.98 × 107 3.45× 107

From Table 2, it is evident that stress produced with the silicone rubber is high and hence,

utilized in the harvester to produce maximum output.

Frequency Response Graphs

The cantilever is structured in the form of a mass-spring system. Hence, any change in

the applied stress results in shift in frequency. Due to this, the maximum voltage for the design

with and without silicone rubber are obtained at different frequency. Following equations

provides the explanation for the same.

Angular frequency in terms of spring constant is given by

= (20)

where is the angular frequency, k is the spring constant and m is the mass.

We know that =2 where f is the resonant frequency. Substituting the value of in

equation (20), the expression for f will be

1
= (21)
2

From Hooke’s law [31], force in terms of spring constant is given by

= × (22)

where x is the displacement occurred due to force.

27
 Rewriting stress equation (17) in terms of force we get

= × (23)

Comparing equation (22) and (23), spring constant k can be written as

×
= (24)

Substituting equation (24) in equation (21), we get

1 ×
= (25)
2 ×

From equation (25) its evident that, the frequency is proportional to the applied stress.

Hence, there is a shift in frequency to higher range in the design with silicone rubber. The

voltage generated is the peak voltage. Hence the power is calculated by the following formula.

× 0.707
= (26)

Figure 22 and Figure 23 represents frequency response graphs for the energy harvester.

FIGURE 22. Frequency response graph of the harvester design without silicone rubber.

28
FIGURE 23. Frequency response graph of the harvester design with silicone rubber.

From Figure 22 and Figure 23, it is evident that the power produced by using silicone

rubber is greater than the design without the rubber. Table 3 summarizes the output values for

both the designs.

TABLE 3. Comparison of Output Values for Harvester Design With and Without Rubber
MODEL VOLTAGE (V) POWER (mW)

Without silicone rubber 19.8 15.8

With silicone rubber 37 57

Load Resistance and Acceleration Dependence Graphs

The proposed design with silicone rubber is tested with different values of load resistance

and acceleration. In Figure 22, the maximum output is produced at 145Hz. Hence the resistance

values are varied for different values of resistance and acceleration at 145Hz. Figure 24 and

Figure 25 are the electrical power output graphs at 145Hz.

29
FIGURE 24. Load dependence output at 145Hz of the harvester.

FIGURE 25. Acceleration dependence output at 145Hz of the harvester.

30
 Table 4 presents the maximum power at 145Hz for different values of resistance and

acceleration.

TABLE 4. Load and Acceleration Dependence Outputs

PARAMETERS MAXIMUM POWER IN (mW)

Load Resistance 95

Acceleration 220

From Table 4, it is evident that the output increases with increase in acceleration and for

the mid-range values of resistance.

The results prove that, for minimum input vibrational force, the idea of increased stress

proposed in the design produces maximum voltage required for the sensor applications.

31
 CHAPTER 12

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

Conclusion

The piezoelectric energy harvester has gained demand because of its feasibility, ease of

design and that it does not require external voltage. The road vibrations produced by the vehicles

are utilized to generate electricity. This thesis presents a design to generate power under low and

high vibration conditions by using a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever and silicone rubber. The

results are simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics and a maximum power of about 57mW is

obtained, which is sufficient to power the sensor and wireless applications. Furthermore, the

varied values of load resistance and acceleration generated power of about 95mW and 220mW

respectively. The results conclude that the piezoelectric energy harvester is one of the achievable

vibration sourced energy harvesting designs.

Future Work

The vibration sourced piezoelectric energy harvester design is not limited to road

vibrations. The design can experiment with vibrations produced by building constructions and

industries. Additionally, the design can be implemented with a piezoelectric unimorph cantilever

with different piezoelectric material or a new choice of elastomer can be used to verify the

results. The piezoelectric energy harvester proposed in this thesis proved its efficacy by

producing a maximum output and can be remodeled in future to serve a multitude of

applications.

32
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33
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