Publication

On the experimental determination of the efficiency of piezoelectric impact-type energy harvesters using a rotational flywheel

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a novel methodology using a rotational flywheel to determine the energy conversion efficiency of the impact based piezoelectric energy harvesters. The influence of the impact speed and additional proof mass on the efficiency is presented here. In order to convert low frequency mechanical oscillations into usable electrical energy, a piezoelectric harvester is coupled to a rotating gear wheel driven by flywheel. The efficiency is determined from the ratio of the electrical energy generated by the harvester to the mechanical energy dissipated by the flywheel. The experimental results reveal that free vibrations of the harvester after plucking contribute significantly to the efficiency. The efficiency and output energy can be greatly improved by adding a proof mass to the harvester. Under certain conditions, the piezoelectric harvesters have an impact energy conversion efficiency of 1.2%.

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Related concepts (33)
Electrical grid
An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of: power stations: often located near energy and away from heavily populated areas electrical substations to step voltage up or down electric power transmission to carry power long distances electric power distribution to individual customers, where voltage is stepped down again to the required service voltage(s).
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Energy harvesting (EH, also known as power harvesting, energy scavenging, or ambient power) is the process by which energy is derived from external sources (e.g., solar power, thermal energy, wind energy, salinity gradients, and kinetic energy, also known as ambient energy), then stored for use by small, wireless autonomous devices, like those used in wearable electronics, condition monitoring, and wireless sensor networks. Energy harvesters usually provide a very small amount of power for low-energy electronics.
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