• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.458-468
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• 2016

Electromechanical model for analyzing a multimodal piezoelectric energy harvester comprising three connected beams is presented in this paper. This system consists of three beams which are connected alternately. The piezoelectric layer is only attached to the middle beam. With this special structural configuration, the first, second, and third natural frequencies are congregated so that the energy harvester can generate meaningful amount of power consistently when the main frequency component of the excitation varies around the lowest three natural frequencies of the harvester. To investigate the dynamic and electric response of the piezoelectric energy harvester, an electromechanical model is developed using the Kane's method and the accuracy of the model is validated by comparing the results obtained with the model with those obtained with the commercial software ANSYS. The results show that the piezoelectric energy harvester comprising three connected beams has much broader power generating frequency range than that of the conventional piezoelectric energy harvester.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.49-59
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• 2017

The piezoelectric energy harvester is recently being developed and catching on as a way to achieve low carbon green growth. The practical application of the piezoelectric energy harvester is expected to contribute not only to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but also to the improvement of residents' welfare. This paper conducted a cost-benefit analysis for the installation of piezoelectric energy harvester on the highway focusing on its impacts on the public. The results showed that the installation of piezoelectric energy harvester on the gyeongbu highway is economically feasible in that it could increase the social welfare for the residents. Finally, this paper suggests policy direction for the practical use of the piezoelectric energy harvester, based on the results obtained.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.87-92
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• 2014

This paper presents a new design for a piezoelectric energy harvester with the potential to harvest vibration energy over a wide range of excitation frequencies, particularly beyond the resonance frequency. The piezoelectric vibration energy harvester employs the concept of pole-zero cancellation occurring in a lever type anti-resonant system. The experimental results show that the proposed energy harvester can provide the potential possibility of a broadband piezoelectric vibration energy harvester.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.70-76
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• 2017

The pollution problem of fossil energy sources has caused the development of green energy harvesting systems. Piezoelectric energy harvesting technology has been developed under those external environmental factors. A piezoelectric energy harvester can be defined as a device which transforms mechanical vibration or impact energy into electrical energy. Most researches have focused on bender structures. However, these have a limitation on energy efficiency because of the small effective electromechanical coupling factor, around 10%. Therefore, we should look for a new design for energy harvesting. A cymbal energy harvester can be a good candidate for the high-power energy harvester because it uses a high amplification mechanism using endcaps while keeping a higher electromechanical coupling factor. In this research, we focused on energy efficiency improvements of the cymbal energy harvester by changing the polarization direction, because the electromechanical coupling factor of the k33 mode and the k15 mode is larger than that of the k31 mode. Theoretically, we checked the cymbal harvester with radial polarization and it could obtain 6 times larger energy than that with the k31 direction polarization. Furthermore, we verified the theoretical expectation using the finite element method program. Consequently, we could expect a more efficient cymbal harvester with the radial polarization by comparing two polarization directions.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.36-40
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• 2019

Energy harvesting is an advantageous technology for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that dispenses with the need for periodic replacement of batteries. WSNs are composed of numerous sensors for the collection of data and communication; hence, they are important in the Internet of Things (IoT). However, due to low power generation and energy conversion efficiency, harvesting technologies have so far been utilized in limited applications. In this study, a piezoelectric energy harvester was modeled in a vibration environment. This harvester has an oval-shaped configuration as compared to the conventional cantilever-type piezoelectric energy harvester. An analytical model based on an equivalent circuit was developed to appraise the advantages of the oval-shaped piezoelectric energy harvester in which several structural parameters were optimized for higher output performance in given vibration environments. As a result, an oval-shaped energy harvester with an average output power of 2.58 mW at 0.5 g and 60 Hz vibration conditions was developed. These technical approaches provided an opportunity to appreciate the significance of autonomous sensor networks.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.661-668
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• 2012

Wireless sensor network is one of prospective methods for railway monitoring due to the long-term operation and low-maintenance performances. How to supply power to the wireless sensor nodes has drawn much attention recently. In railway monitoring, the idea of converting ambient vibration energy from vibration of railway track induced by passing trains to electric energy has made it a potential way for powering the wireless sensor nodes. In this paper, a bimorph cantilever piezoelectric energy harvester was designed based on a single degree-of-freedom model. Experimental test was also performed to validate the design. The first natural frequency of the bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester was decreased from 117.1 Hz to 65.2 Hz by adding 4 gram tip mass to the free end of the 8.6 gram energy harvester. In addition, the power generation of the piezoelectric energy harvester with 4 gram tip mass at resonant frequency was increased from 0.14 mW to 0.74 mW from $2.06m/s^2$ base excitation compared to stand-alone piezoelectric energy harvester without tip mass.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.567-576
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• 2017

Design of piezoelectric energy harvester for a wide operating frequency range is a challenging problem and is currently being investigated by many researchers. Widening the operating frequency is required, as the energy is harvested from ambient source of vibration which consists of spectrum of frequency. This paper presents a new technique to increase the operating frequency range which is achieved by designing a harvester featured by a propped cantilever beam with variable over hang length. The proposed piezoelectric energy harvester is modeled analytically using Euler Bernoulli beam theory and the effectiveness of the harvester is demonstrated through experimentation. The results from analytical model and from experimentation reveal that the proposed energy harvester generates an open circuit output voltage ranging from 36.43 V to 11.94 V for the frequency range of 27.24 Hz to 48.47 Hz. The proposed harvester produces continuously varying output voltage and power in the broadened operating frequency range.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.249-265
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• 2016

A bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester is developed for harvesting energy under the vortex induced vibration and it is integrated to a host structure of a trapezoidal plate without changing its passive dynamic properties. It is aimed to select trapezoidal plate as similar to a vertical fin-like structure which could be a part of an air vehicle. The designed energy harvester consists of an aluminum beam and two identical multi fiber composite (MFC) piezoelectric patches. In order to understand the dynamic characteristic of the trapezoidal plate, finite element analysis is performed and it is validated through an experimental study. The bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester is then integrated to the trapezoidal plate at the most convenient location with minimal structural displacement. The finite element model is constructed for the new combined structure in ANSYS Workbench 14.0 and the analyses performed on this particular model are then validated via experimental techniques. Finally, the energy harvesting performance of the bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester attached to the trapezoidal plate is also investigated through wind tunnel tests under the air load and the obtained results indicate that the system is a viable one for harvesting reasonable amount of energy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.544-544
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• 2014

Energy harvesting technology, which scavenges electric power from ambient, otherwise wasted, energy sources, has been explored to develop self-powered wireless sensors and possibly eliminate the battery replacement cost for wireless sensors. Among ambient energy sources, vibration energy can be converted into electric power through a piezoelectric energy harvester. For the last decade, although tremendous advances have been made in design methodology to maximize harvestable electric power under a given vibration condition, the research in reliability assessment to ensure durability has been stagnant due to the complicated nature of the multiple failure modes of a piezoelectric energy harvester, such as the interfacial delamination, fatigue failure, and dynamic fracture. Therefore, this study presents the first-ever system reliability analysis for multiple failure modes of a piezoelectric energy harvester using the Generalized Complementary Intersection Method (GCIM), while accounts for the energy conversion performance. The GCIM enables to decompose the probabilities of high-order joint failure events into probabilities of complementary intersection events. The electromechanically-coupled analytical model is implemented based on the Kirchhoff plate theory to analyze its output performances of a piezoelectric energy harvester. Since a durable as well as efficient design of a piezoelectric energy harvester is significantly important in sustainably utilizing self-powered electronics, we believe that technical development on system reliability analysis will have an immediate and major impact on piezoelectric energy harvesting technology.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.463-469
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• 2015

A vibration-based energy harvester and its equivalent circuit models have been reported. Most models predict voltage signals at harmonic excitation. However, vibrations in a natural environment are unpredictable in frequency and amplitude. In this paper, we propose a realistic equivalent circuit model of a frequency-up-converting impact-based piezoelectric energy harvester. It can describe the behavior of the harvester in a real environment where the frequency and the amplitude of the excitation vary arbitrarily. The simulation results of the model were compared with experimental data and showed good agreement. The proposed model can predict both the impact response and long term response in a non-harmonic excitation. The model is also very useful to analyze the performance of energy conversion circuitry with the harvester.