A dual-cantilever based MEMS PZT thick-film energy harvester with enhanced internal resonance performance

Abstract

In this paper, a multi-frequency vibrational piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) with a dual-microcantilever coupled structure based on the internal resonance effect is proposed. The device consists of a low-frequency cantilever and a high-frequency cantilever with an integer multiple of resonant frequencies connected by a clamped–clamped coupling beam. The internal resonant PEH (IR-PEH) is prepared by the microelectromechanical systems piezoelectric thick-film process based on the flexible thin metal substrate. The output performance of the proposed PEH device is greatly improved by taking advantages of the internal coupling structure and the piezoelectric thick-film microfabrication process. Under the excitation acceleration of 2 g, the maximum power output of IR-PEH reaches 424.6 μW at 190 Hz and 108.8 μW at 365 Hz, which increases by 35% of the power output due to the internal resonance coupling comparing with the PEH without the coupling effect. The corresponding power densities of IR-PEH reach 6.3 and 1.6 mW/cm3, respectively. This IR-PEH configuration induces the competitive advantages of good performance, wide bandwidth, and small volume, which can be potentially employed as a power source for low power wireless sensing nodes.