Low-frequency vibration energy harvesting using a locally resonant phononic crystal plate with spiral beams

Abstract

A low-frequency vibration energy generator has been proposed by using a locally resonant phononic crystal plate which has spiral beams connecting the scatterers and the matrix. Finite element analysis shows that at the flat bands frequencies of the phononic crystal, locally resonant leads to the spiral beams having strong deformations which are perpendicular to the plate. A designed structure with three PC cells arranged in the same direction was adopted for the experiments. Piezoelectric patches were adhered on the end of the spiral beams and then the collected vibration energy could be converted into electric energy. The maximum single-channel output voltage which reached as much as 13 V was obtained at the first flat band frequency 29.2 Hz in the experiment. Meanwhile, in the low-frequency range of 0–500 Hz, it showed that the piezoelectric transformation could be conducted at a dozen of resonant frequencies. Furthermore, through modulating the structure parameters, this phononic crystal has the potential to realize broad-distributed vibration energy harvesting.