Improved energy harvesting from vibration by introducing cavity in a cantilever beam

摘要

This paper presents modeling and experimental evaluation of a cantilever-based piezoelectric energy harvester with cavity. The introduction of cavity in the beam shifts the neutral axis of the beam away from the surface of the piezoelectric element which in turn increases the strain and generated voltage. The generated voltage from the cantilever beam with cavity is higher when compared to the beam without cavity and is found to vary with its position and thickness. The analytical and experimental results are in close agreement. The cantilever beam with cavity generates 75% higher voltage than the voltage generated from the beam without cavity.