Study on Energy Harvesting Efficiencies of Piezoelectric MEMS Devices

Piezoelectric devices convert vibrations into electric energy a rapidly expanding field of research with a wide range of applications constantly emerging. In Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting world-renowned researchers offer a timely and comprehensive overview of electromechanical modelling and applications for piezoelectric energy harvesters. This book is a study that evaluates the static stability of a unimorph piezoelectric cantilever by optimizing its dimensions different piezoelectric materials and shapes to optimize its efficiency. A unimorph cantilever was modeled with V Π L and H-shapes and evaluated with boundary loads ranging from 10 to 100N as well as for different materials such as PZT-4 PZT-5H PVDF ZnO BaTiO3 PZT-8 and Quartz RH. Among the four different shapes performed L and H shapes have shown the better performance. Hence L and H shapes have been evaluated with and without the insertion of steps. All the above analysis shown that the piezoelectric energy harvester with PVDF exhibited the highest conversion efficiency under a 100N boundary load for the H-shaped cantilever.