Simulation of Synchronized-Switching Method Energy Harvester Including Accurate Piezoceramic Nonlinear Behavior

Abstract

Synchronized-switching techniques have significantly enhanced the harvested energy from semipassive and active surrounding ambient mechanical vibration harvesters. They have allowed a large improvement of vibration-control efficiency using piezoelectric devices. Unfortunately, for such techniques, dielectric limitations appear as soon as the piezoceramic operates under external solicitation of higher amplitudes and frequencies. Under extreme conditions, active materials exhibit nonlinear behavior related to dielectric hysteresis that significantly reduces their performance. In this work, we focus on this nonlinear behavior and its consequences in terms of system efficiency. We apply a realistic model including accurate material laws. In such models, a constant piezoelectric coupling d 31 is not suitable as a coefficient anymore and it should be replaced by a function depending on the polarization level through the active material. The response of more realistic systems including hysteresis was taken into account and compared with the basic model, where a constant d 31 was considered.