Modeling and fabrication of a piezoelectric vibration‐induced micro power generator

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, theoretical and experimental study on a piezoelectric vibration‐induced micro power generator that can convert mechanical vibration energy into electrical energy is presented. The mechanical‐electrical energy conversion mechanism is a voltage between two capacitors, which belong to the mechanical and the piezoelectric equivalent circuits, respectively. To verify the theoretical analysis, two clusters of transducer structures are fabricated. Piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) material is chosen to make the energy conversion transducer. The desired shape of the piezoelectric generator with its resonance frequency in accordance with the ambient vibration source is designed by finite element analysis (FEA). Experimental results show that the maximum output voltages are generated at the first mode resonance frequencies of the structure. The overall conversion efficiency is measured to be 33%. The experimental results coincide with the theoretical analysis.