Testing and evaluation of stretching strain in clamped–clamped beams for energy harvesting

Abstract

In this paper, evaluation of stretching strain capabilities to harvest energy from a piezoelectric clamped–clamped beam is theoretically modeled and experimentally tested. The utilization of stretching strain has many advantages as: elimination of any substrate material, and the simple electrode configuration. The doubly clamped structure exhibits a highly nonlinear frequency response (Hardening Duffing) that widens the bandwidth during the frequency up-ward sweep. The wide bandwidth makes it suitable for practical applications. A design of ( piezoelectric material + proof mass) energy harvester was tested using PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) that can generate up to 15 μW from vibrations of at and 2 MΩ load. The design can also generate up to from vibrations of at and 2 MΩ load.