Topology Optimization of Miniaturized Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

Abstract

In this contribution, we perform topology optimization on the mechanical structure of the multi-resonant folded beam energy harvester. The optimization goal is to minimize the spacing between its first two resonance frequencies and create a wider usable frequency range for energy harvesting. Two different optimizations have been performed. First optimization has successfully reduced the spacing to 2 Hz. For the second optimization, we excluded rectangular surface areas from the optimization, dedicated for commercial piezoelectric patches. The additional constraint has led to a larger frequency spacing compared to the initial optimization, 7 Hz, however this result is still a significant improvement over the starting geometry. Piezoelectricity model and comparison with existing parameter optimized designs will be included in the upcoming publication.