Design of Vibration-Sourced Piezoelectric Harvester for Battery-Powered Sensor Network

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.