scholarly journals Mechanical Energy Sensing and Harvesting in Micromachined Polymer-Based Piezoelectric Transducers for Fully Implanted Hearing Systems: A Review

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2276
Author(s):  
Rhonira Latif ◽  
Mimiwaty Mohd Noor ◽  
Jumril Yunas ◽  
Azrul Azlan Hamzah

The paper presents a comprehensive review of mechanical energy harvesters and microphone sensors for totally implanted hearing systems. The studies on hearing mechanisms, hearing losses and hearing solutions are first introduced to bring to light the necessity of creating and integrating the in vivo energy harvester and implantable microphone into a single chip. The in vivo energy harvester can continuously harness energy from the biomechanical motion of the internal organs. The implantable microphone executes mechanoelectrical transduction, and an array of such structures can filter sound frequency directly without an analogue-to-digital converter. The revision of the available transduction mechanisms, device configuration structures and piezoelectric material characteristics reveals the advantage of adopting the polymer-based piezoelectric transducers. A dual function of sensing the sound signal and simultaneously harvesting vibration energy to power up its system can be attained from a single transducer. Advanced process technology incorporates polymers into piezoelectric materials, initiating the invention of a self-powered and flexible transducer that is compatible with the human body, magnetic resonance imaging system (MRI) and the standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes. The polymer-based piezoelectric is a promising material that satisfies many of the requirements for obtaining high performance implantable microphones and in vivo piezoelectric energy harvesters.

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Zhang ◽  
Keith A. Williams ◽  
Zhengchao Xie

The power source with the limited life span has motivated the development of the energy harvesters that can scavenge the ambient environment energy and convert it into the electrical energy. With the coupled field characteristics of structure to electricity, piezoelectric energy harvesters are under consideration as a means of converting the mechanical energy to the electrical energy, with the goal of realizing completely self-powered sensor systems. In this paper, two previous models in the literatures for predicting the open-circuit and close-circuit voltages of a piezoelectric cantilever bimorph (PCB) energy harvester are first described, that is, the mechanical equivalent spring mass-damper model and the electrical equivalent circuit model. Then, the development of an enhanced coupled field model for the PCB energy harvester based on another previous model in the literature using a conservation of energy method is presented. Further, the laboratory experiments are carried out to evaluate the enhanced coupled field model and the other two previous models in the literatures. The comparison results show that the enhanced coupled field model can better predict the open-circuit and close-circuit voltages of the PCB energy harvester with a proof mass bonded at the free end of the structure in order to increase the energy-harvesting level of the system.


2011 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Long Zhang ◽  
Keith A. Williams ◽  
Zheng Chao Xie

As consumer electronics continue to develop in size and scope, the battery power source with the limited life span poses an increasing economic challenge. This growing problem has motivated the development of the energy harvesters that can scavenge the ambient environment energy and convert it into the electrical energy for use of the wireless sensor nodes and the portable electronics. With the coupled field characteristics of structure to electricity, piezoelectric energy harvesters are under consideration as a means for converting the mechanical energy to the electrical energy, with the goal of realizing completely self-powered sensor systems. In this paper, the development of an enhanced coupled field model for the PCB energy harvester based on a previous model in the literature using a conservation of energy method is presented. Further, the laboratory experiments are carried out to evaluate the enhanced coupled field model and the other two previous models in the literatures. The comparison results show that the enhanced coupled field model can better predict the open-circuit of the PCB energy harvester with a proof mass bonded at the free end of the structure in order to increase the energy harvesting level of the system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sungryong Bae ◽  
Pilkee Kim

In this study, optimization of the external load resistance of a piezoelectric bistable energy harvester was performed for primary harmonic (period-1T) and subharmonic (period-3T) interwell motions. The analytical expression of the optimal load resistance was derived, based on the spectral analyses of the interwell motions, and evaluated. The analytical results are in excellent agreement with the numerical ones. A parametric study shows that the optimal load resistance depended on the forcing frequency, but not the intensity of the ambient vibration. Additionally, it was found that the optimal resistance for the period-3T interwell motion tended to be approximately three times larger than that for the period-1T interwell motion, which means that the optimal resistance was directly affected by the oscillation frequency (or oscillation period) of the motion rather than the forcing frequency. For broadband energy harvesting applications, the subharmonic interwell motion is also useful, in addition to the primary harmonic interwell motion. In designing such piezoelectric bistable energy harvesters, the frequency dependency of the optimal load resistance should be considered properly depending on ambient vibrations.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 803
Author(s):  
Zhongjie Li ◽  
Chuanfu Xin ◽  
Yan Peng ◽  
Min Wang ◽  
Jun Luo ◽  
...  

A novel hybridization scheme is proposed with electromagnetic transduction to improve the power density of piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) in this paper. Based on the basic cantilever piezoelectric energy harvester (BC-PEH) composed of a mass block, a piezoelectric patch, and a cantilever beam, we replaced the mass block by a magnet array and added a coil array to form the hybrid energy harvester. To enhance the output power of the electromagnetic energy harvester (EMEH), we utilized an alternating magnet array. Then, to compare the power density of the hybrid harvester and BC-PEH, the experiments of output power were conducted. According to the experimental results, the power densities of the hybrid harvester and BC-PEH are, respectively, 3.53 mW/cm3 and 5.14 μW/cm3 under the conditions of 18.6 Hz and 0.3 g. Therefore, the power density of the hybrid harvester is 686 times as high as that of the BC-PEH, which verified the power density improvement of PEH via a hybridization scheme with EMEH. Additionally, the hybrid harvester exhibits better performance for charging capacitors, such as charging a 2.2 mF capacitor to 8 V within 17 s. It is of great significance to further develop self-powered devices.


Author(s):  
Guangya Ding ◽  
Hongjun Luo ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Guohui Yuan

A novel lever piezoelectric energy harvester (LPEH) was designed for installation in an actual roadway for energy harvesting. The model incorporates a lever module that amplifies the applied traffic load and transmits it to the piezoelectric ceramic. To observe the piezoelectric growth benefits of the optimized LPEH structure, the output characteristics and durability of two energy harvesters, the LPEH and a piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) without a lever, were measured and compared by carrying out piezoelectric performance tests and traffic model experiments. Under the same loading condition, the open circuit voltages of the LPEH and PEH were 20.6 and 11.7 V, respectively, which represents a 76% voltage increase for the LPEH compared to the PEH. The output power of the LPEH was 21.51 mW at the optimal load, which was three times higher than that of the PEH (7.45 mW). The output power was linearly dependent on frequency and load, implying the potential application of the module as a self-powered speed sensor. When tested during 300,000 loading cycles, the LPEH still exhibited stable structural performance and durability.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (19) ◽  
pp. 4484-4491 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Tikani ◽  
L Torfenezhad ◽  
M Mousavi ◽  
S Ziaei-Rad

Nowadays, environmental energy resources, especially mechanical vibrations, have attracted the attention of researchers to provide energy for low-power electronic circuits. A common method for environmental mechanical energy harvesting involves using piezoelectric materials. In this study, a spiral multimode piezoelectric energy harvester was designed and fabricated. To achieve wide bandwidth in low frequencies (below 15 Hz), the first three resonance frequencies of the beam were designed to be close to each other. To do this, the five lengths of the substrate layer were optimized by the Taguchi method, using an L27 orthogonal array. Each experiment of the Taguchi method was then simulated in ANSYS software. Next, the optimum level of each design variable was obtained. A test rig was then constructed based on the optimum design values and some experimental investigations were conducted. A good correlation was observed between measured and the finite element results.


Author(s):  
Yangyang Zhang ◽  
Bingwei Lu ◽  
Chaofeng Lü ◽  
Xue Feng

Self-powered implantable devices with flexible energy harvesters are of significant interest due to their potential to solve the problem of limited battery life and surgical replacement. The flexible electronic devices made of piezoelectric materials have been employed to harvest energy from the motion of biological organs. Experimental measurements show that the output voltage of the device mounted on porcine left ventricle in chest closed environment decreases significantly compared to the case of chest open. A restricted-space deformation model is proposed to predict the impeding effect of pleural cavity, surrounding tissues, as well as respiration on the efficiency of energy harvesting from heartbeat using flexible piezoelectric devices. The analytical solution is verified by comparing theoretical predictions to experimental measurements. A simple scaling law is established to analyse the intrinsic correlations between the normalized output power and the combined system parameters, i.e. the normalized permitted space and normalized electrical load. The results may provide guidelines for optimization of in vivo energy harvesting from heartbeat or the motions of other biological organs using flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters.


2014 ◽  
Vol 953-954 ◽  
pp. 655-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guang Qing Shang ◽  
Hong Bing Wang ◽  
Chun Hua Sun

Energy harvesting system has become one of important areas of ​​research and develops rapidly. How to improve the performance of the piezoelectric vibration energy harvester is a key issue in engineering applications. There are many literature on piezoelectric energy harvesting. The paper places focus on summarizing these literature of mathematical modeling of piezoelectric energy harvesting, ranging from the linear to nonlinear, from early a single mechanical degree to piezoaeroelastic problems.


Author(s):  
M. H. Ansari ◽  
M. Amin Karami

A three dimensional piezoelectric vibration energy harvester is designed to generate electricity from heartbeat vibrations. The device consists of several bimorph piezoelectric beams stacked on top of each other. These horizontal bimorph beams are connected to each other by rigid vertical beams making a fan-folded geometry. One end of the design is clamped and the other end is free. One major problem in micro-scale piezoelectric energy harvesters is their high natural frequency. The same challenge is faced in development of a compact vibration energy harvester for the low frequency heartbeat vibrations. One way to decrease the natural frequency is to increase the length of the bimorph beam. This approach is not usually practical due to size limitations. By utilizing the fan-folded geometry, the natural frequency is decreased while the size constraints are observed. The required size limit of the energy harvester is 1 cm by 1 cm by 1 cm. In this paper, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of fan-folded energy harvesters are analytically derived. The electro-mechanical coupling has been included in the model for the piezoelectric beam. The design criteria for the device are discussed.


Author(s):  
Prateek Asthana ◽  
Gargi Khanna

Piezoelectric energy harvesting refers to conversion of mechanical energy into usable electrical energy. In the modern connected world, wireless sensor nodes are scattered around the environment. These nodes are powered by batteries. Batteries require regular replacement, hence energy harvesters providing continuous autonomous power are used to power these sensor nodes. This work provides two different fixation modes for the resonant frequency for the two modes. Variation in geometric parameter and their effect on resonant frequency and output power have been analyzed. These harvesters capture a wide-band of ambient vibrations and convert them into usable electrical energy. To capture random ambient vibrations, the harvester used is a wide-band energy harvester based on conventional seesaw mechanism. The proposed structure operates on first two resonant frequencies in comparison to the conventional cantilever system working on first resonant frequency. Resonance frequency, as well as response to a varying input vibration frequency, is carried out, showing better performance of seesaw cantilever design. In this work, modeling of wide-band energy harvester with proof mass is being performed. Position of proof mass plays a key role in determining the resonant frequency of the harvester. Placing the proof mass near or away from fixed end results in increase and decrease in stress on the piezoelectric layer. Hence, to avoid the breaking of cantilever, the position of proof mass has been analyzed.


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