A comprehensive review on the state-of-the-art of piezoelectric energy harvesting

From last few decades, piezoelectric materials have played a vital role as a mechanism of energy harvesting, as they have the tendency to absorb energy from the environment and transform it to electrical energy that can be used to drive electronic devices directly or indirectly. The power of electronic circuits has been cut down to nano or micro watts, which leads towards the development of self-designed piezoelectric transducers that can overcome power generation problems and can be self-powered. Moreover, piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEHs) can reduce the need for batteries, resulting in optimization of the weight of structures. These mechanisms are of great interest for many researchers, as piezoelectric transducers are capable of generating electric voltage in response to thermal, electrical, mechanical and electromagnetic input. In this review paper, Fluid Structure Interaction-based, human-based, and vibration-based energy harvesting mechanisms were studied. Moreover, qualitative and quantitative analysis of existing PEH mechanisms has been carried out.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/7/1850/pdf

A Review on Mechanisms for Piezoelectric-Based Energy Harvesters

This paper investigates fish-like aquatic robotics using flexible bimorphs made of macro-fiber composite (MFC) piezoelectric laminates for carangiform locomotion. In addition to noiseless and efficient actuation over a range of frequencies, geometric scalability, and simple design, bimorph propulsors made of MFCs offer a balance between the actuation force and velocity response for performance enhancement in bio-inspired swimming. The experimental component of the presented work focuses on the characterization of an elastically constrained MFC bimorph propulsor for thrust generation in quiescent water as well as the development of a robotic fish prototype combining a microcontroller and a printed-circuit-board amplifier to generate high actuation voltage for untethered locomotion. From the theoretical standpoint, a distributed-parameter electroelastic model including the hydrodynamic effects and actuator dynamics is coupled with the elongated-body theory for predicting the mean thrust in quiescent water. In-air and underwater experiments are performed to verify the incorporation of hydrodynamic effects in the linear actuation regime. For electroelastically nonlinear actuation levels, experimentally obtained underwater vibration response is coupled with the elongated-body theory to predict the thrust output. The measured mean thrust levels in quiescent water (on the order of ∼10 mN) compare favorably with thrust levels of biological fish. An untethered robotic fish prototype that employs a single bimorph fin (caudal fin) for straight swimming and turning motions is developed and tested in free locomotion. A swimming speed of 0.3 body-length/second (7.5 cm s−1 swimming speed for 24.3 cm body length) is achieved at 5 Hz for a non-optimized main body-propulsor bimorph combination under a moderate actuation voltage level.

/pdf/bio-inspired-aquatic-robotics-by-untethered-5c1kfmqwtn.pdf

Bio-inspired aquatic robotics by untethered piezohydroelastic actuation

Piezoelectric fiber composites (PFC) represent an interesting subset of smart materials that can function as sensor, actuator and energy converter. Despite their excellent potential for energy harvesting, very few PFC mechanisms have been developed to capture the human body power and convert it into an electric current to power wearable electronic devices. This paper provides a proof of concept for a head-mounted device with a PFC chin strap capable of harvesting energy from jaw movements. An electromechanical model based on the bond graph method is developed to predict the power output of the energy harvesting system. The optimum resistance value of the load and the best stretch ratio in the strap are also determined. A prototype was developed and tested and its performances were compared to the analytical model predictions. The proposed piezoelectric strap mechanism can be added to all types of head-mounted devices to power small-scale electronic devices such as hearing aids, electronic hearing protectors and communication earpieces.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/23/10/105020/pdf

Flexible piezoelectric energy harvesting from jaw movements

Piezoelectric and electromagnetic transduction techniques have peculiar advantages to leverage in the growing field of flow energy harvesting from aeroelastic vibrations. This letter presents the concept of hybrid piezoelectric-inductive power generation with electroaeroelastic modeling and simulations. Dimensionless analysis of the coupled system dynamics is indispensable to proper geometric scaling and optimization of aeroelastic energy harvesters. The governing electroaeroelastic equations are given in dimensionless form, and the effects of aeroelastic and electrical properties are investigated in detail toward understanding the dependence of the cut-in speed (flutter speed) and the maximum power output of the harvester on the system parameters.

/pdf/hybrid-piezoelectric-inductive-flow-energy-harvesting-and-3g0oi2enq8.pdf

Hybrid piezoelectric-inductive flow energy harvesting and dimensionless electroaeroelastic analysis for scaling

Fiber-based flexible piezoelectric composites offer several advantages to use in energy harvesting and biomimetic locomotion These advantages include ease of application, high power density, effective bending actuation, silent operation over a range of frequencies, and light weight Piezoelectric materials exhibit the well-known direct and converse piezoelectric effects The direct piezoelectric effect has received growing attention for low-power generation to use in wireless electronic applications while the converse piezoelectric effect constitutes an alternative to replace the conventional actuators used in biomimetic locomotion In this paper, underwater thrust and electricity generation are investigated experimentally by focusing on biomimetic structures with macro-fiber composite piezoelectrics Fish-like bimorph configurations with and without a passive caudal fin (tail) are fabricated and compared The favorable effect of having a passive caudal fin on the frequency bandwidth is reported The presence of a passive caudal fin is observed to bring the second bending mode close to the first one, yielding a wideband behavior in thrust generation The same smart fish configuration is tested for underwater piezoelectric power generation in response to harmonic excitation from its head Resonant piezohydroelastic actuation is reported to generate milli-newton level hydrodynamic thrust using milli-watt level actuation power input The average actuation power requirement for generating a mean thrust of 19 mN at 6 Hz using a 10 g piezoelastic fish with a caudal fin is measured as 120 mW This work also discusses the feasibility of thrust generation using the harvested energy toward enabling self-powered swimmer-sensor platforms with comparisons based on the capacity levels of structural thin-film battery layers as well as harvested solar and vibrational energy (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/20/12/125013/pdf

Underwater thrust and power generation using flexible piezoelectric composites: an experimental investigation toward self-powered swimmer-sensor platforms

Flexible piezoelectrics offer several advantages to use in energy harvesting and biomimetic locomotion. These advantages include ease of application, high power density, silent and effective operation over a range of frequencies as well as light weight. Piezoelectric materials exhibit the well-known direct and converse piezoelectric effects. The direct piezoelectric effect has received growing attention for low-power generation to use in wireless electronic applications while the converse piezoelectric effect constitutes an alternative to replace the conventional actuators used in biomimetic locomotion. In this paper, underwater thrust and electricity generation are investigated experimentally by focusing on biomimetic structures with macro-fiber composite piezoelectrics. Fish-like bimorph configurations with and without a passive caudal fin (tail) are fabricated and compared. The favorable effect of having a passive caudal fin on the frequency bandwidth is reported. The presence of a passive caudal fin is observed to bring the second bending mode close to the first one, yielding a wideband behavior in thrust generation. The same smart fish configuration is tested for underwater piezoelectric power generation in response to harmonic excitation from its head. Hydrodynamic loads resulting from base excitation yield considerably larger power output as compared to in-air base excitation at the same acceleration amplitude. This work also discusses the feasibility of thrust generation using the harvested energy toward enabling self-powered swimmer systems.Copyright © 2011 by ASME

Ghislain Delporte

Papers

Underwater thrust and power generation using flexible piezoelectric composites: an experimental investigation toward self-powered swimmer-sensor platforms

Hydroelastic Power and Thrust Generation Using Macro-Fiber Composite Piezoelectrics