Piezoelectric Structures and Low Power Generation Devices

• Main Author: Irinela CHILIBON
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IFSA Publishing, S.L. 2016-10-01
• Series: Sensors & Transducers
• Subjects: Renewable electricity; Energy harvesting; Scavenging energy; Vibration energy; Generator; Converter; Piezoelectric.
• Online Access: http://www.sensorsportal.com/HTML/DIGEST/october_2016/Vol_205/P_2863.pdf

A short overview of different piezoelectric structures and devices for generating renewable electricity under mechanical actions is presented. A vibrating piezoelectric device differs from a typical electrical power source in that it has capacitive rather than inductive source impedance, and may be driven by mechanical vibrations of varying amplitude. Several techniques have been developed to extract energy from the environment. Generally, “vibration energy” could be converted into electrical energy by three techniques: electrostatic charge, magnetic fields and piezoelectric. Mechanical resonance frequency of piezoelectric bimorph transducers depends on geometric size (length, width, and thickness of each layer), and the piezoelectric coefficients of the piezoelectric material. Manufacturing processes and intended applications of several energy harvesting devices are presented.