Effect of an additional magnetic field on the performance of a rotary plucking-based piezoelectric energy harvester

In order to improve performance of a non-contact rotary piezoelectric frequency up-converting energy harvester, the use of an additional magnetic field has been proposed in our previous work. It had been shown that the mentioned magnetic field considerably affects the performance of the conventional harvesters subjected to weak excitations. Addressing the same problem, current research however proposes a different way for realization of the mentioned field. In the presented configuration, an additional piezoelectric beam is used in order to increase the overall generated power of the harvester, and at the same time, to provide us with a base for one of the magnets of the field. To assess the effects of this extra beam on the performance of the harvester, a mathematical model is then developed. By the use of a quantity named power ratio, it is shown that the power output can increase to more than ten times when the harvester is subjected to low-amplitude excitations.

Keywords:

piezoelectric , rotary , plucking , frequency-up conversion , energy harvester