Work

Experimentally Validated Modelling of a Base-Excited Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvester Connected to a Full Wave Rectified Load

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Practical applications of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting systems are required to produce a stable DC output through the nonlinear process of AC-DC rectification. In most simulation studies of such systems, the diodes have been idealised as switches, an assumption that is valid only if the vibration-induced voltage is high enough, which is frequently not the case in practice. This paper presents an experimentally validated simulation of a base excited vibration energy harvester connected to a full wave rectified load, combining the analytical modal transformation of the Euler-Bernoulli model of a piezoelectric beam with the nonlinear current-voltage characteristic of a real (non-ideal) diode. Three types of diodes with significantly different model parameters sourced from industry-standard datasets are considered. Discrepancies between simulated and measured resonant voltage levels are found to be less than 10% on average, and the discrepancy in resonant frequency is less than 1%, demonstrating the reliability of the Shockley diode model despite its omission of the dynamic behaviour of the diode.

Source: Sensors

DOI: 10.3390/s25206305

Authors: Philip Bonello, Maher Alalwan

Institution: University of Manchester

Language: English

Topic: Innovative Energy Harvesting Technologies

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137