Performance of Piezoelectric Energy Harvester (PEH) Modification Using Silicon Rubber

Abstract

A piezoelectric cantilever beam with structural modification using rubber was designed to harvest power from a vibrating structure. It has been proven that micro-watts of power can be generated from this PEH-rubber attachment. The study begins with developing the analytical equations to predict the short-circuit voltage and output power by using resistor as the external load. The simulated values were compared with the experimental data. Introducing the rubber to be in series with the piezoelectric strip will enable the bandwidth of the frequency to be widen by 115% as compared to controlled sample which was designed without the rubber.