Energy harvesting from L shaped frames with adjustable load mass

Abstract

This paper proposes an investigation of L-shaped piezoelectric composite beams to generate electric power. The objective is to increase the bandwidth of the frequency range to harvest the energy. The structure is formed by one 150mm auxiliary piezoelectric composite beam and one 75 mm main piezoelectric composite beam, one tip masses. The tip masses on the 75 mm main composite beam are varied to determine the frequency range to harvest energy. The capability to control the frequency bandwidth about which energy is harvested is illustrated by adjusting beam lengths properly. This device has been found to provide that the output power and energy harvesting efficiency over the L-shaped structure’s frequency range is greater than the cantilever structure’s output power and energy harvesting efficiency under the same excitation conditions. The power densities of the different configurations are compared.