Two Methods to Broaden the Bandwidth of a Nonlinear Piezoelectric Bimorph Power Harvester

Abstract

We propose two methods to broaden the operation bandwidth of a nonlinear pinned–pinned piezoelectric bimorph power harvester. The energy-scavenging structure consists of a properly poled and electroded flexible bimorph with a metallic layer in the middle, and is subjected to flexural vibration. Nonlinear effects at large deformations near resonance are considered by taking the in-plane extension of the bimorph into account. The resulting output powers are multivalued and exhibit jump phenomena. Two methods to broaden the operation bandwidth are proposed: The first method is to extend the operation frequency to the left single-valued region through optimal design. The second method is to excite optimal initial conditions with a voltage source. Larger output powers in the multivalued region of the nonlinear harvester are obtained. Hence, the operation bandwidth is broadened from the left single-valued region to the whole multivalued region.