Design and Analysis of Wideband Cropped Trapezoidal Cantilever with Enhanced Power Conversion Efficiency
Kirubaveni Savarimuthu, Radha Sankararajan, Gulam Nabi Alsath M and Ani Melfa Roji M
This paper presents a novel piezoelectric cropped trapezoidal cantilever for broadband energy harvesting with enhanced power conversion capability. The introduction of hole in the cantilever shifts the neutral axis of the beam and changes the stiffness of the beam thereby varying the displacement which in turn increases the strain and generated voltage. An analytical model of the proposed harvester is developed using Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The effect of thickness of the trapezoidal hole on the fundamental natural frequency and the generated voltage is analyzed. The characteristics of the energy harvester are assessed through analytical model and experimental analysis and the outcomes are in close agreement. The cropped harvester with hole thickness of 4.5 mm has bandwidth of 207 Hz. 42% improvement in the harvested power than that of trapezoidal cantilever without hole is achieved. The paper presents the development of a trapezoidal cantilever that performs well when compared to the other cantilevers that are reported in literature making the device suitable for portable electronics applications. The paper presents the mathematical modeling and implementation of a trapezoidal cantilever that performs well when compared to the other cantilevers that are reported in literature making the device suitable for portable electronics applications. The cropped harvester with hole thickness of 4.5 mm has bandwidth of 207 Hz. 42% improvement in the harvested power than that of trapezoidal cantilever without hole is achieved.
Keywords: Piezoelectric energy harvester, cantilever, vibration, wideband, power enhancement