Influence of Structure Configuration on Strained Devices: A Piezoelectric-oriented Survey

摘要

This paper is a short overview of some piezoelectric materials and devices for generating renewable electricity under mechanical motion actions. Piezoelectric materials, usually crystals or ceramics, have the capability to generate a small amount of current, when they are subjected to mechanical pressure, such as pushing, bending, twisting, and turning. A vibrating piezoelectric device differs from a typical electrical power source in that it has capacitive rather than inductive source impedance, and may be driven by mechanical vibrations of varying amplitude. Several techniques have been developed to extract energy from the environment. Generally, "vibration energy" could be converted into electrical energy by three techniques: electrostatic charge, magnetic fields and piezoelectric. Mechanical resonance frequency of piezoelectric bimorph transducers depends on geometric size (length, width, and thickness of each layer), and the piezoelectric coefficients of the piezoelectric material. This paper will discuss about the manufacturing processes and intended applications of several energy harvesting devices.