Piezoelectric material based energy generator using bistable cantilever beam

Abstract

Recently, the vibration induced by nonlinear energy harvesting systems has been studied. This paper describes an energy generator employing bistable piezoelectric cantilever beam. The system consists of a piezoelectric material attached on cantilever, a permanent magnet fixed at tip of the cantilever beam and two magnets placed at both side of the tip magnet. The bistable phenomenon was investigated by changing the gap between the tip magnet and side magnet. The trend of output energy from bistable piezoelectric cantilever beam was studied experimentally by considering the different gap distance and different initial displacement. As shown in results, the bistable cantilevered beams show a wider range of power than the linear vibrating system. © 2012 Springer-Verlag GmbH.