A Three-Axial Frequency-Tunable Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Using a Magnetic-Force Configuration

To date, researchers have utilized energy harvesters to power wireless sensor nodes as self-powered wireless sensors to create many innovative wireless sensors network applications such as medical monitoring, machining-condition monitoring, and structural-health monitoring. Regarding to energy harvesters, some researchers demonstrated wideband or frequency up-converted vibrational energy harvesters using magnetic force together with piezoelectric materials. However, these harvesters are not able to harness 3-D or three-axial mechanical energy through using one single mechanism or configuration. To address this problem, we report a novel magnetic-force-configured three-axial frequency-tunable piezoelectric energy harvester in this paper. Due to the magnetic-force configuration, the harvester converts ambient three-axial mechanical vibration/motion to piezoelectric voltage-response (i.e., three-axial energy harvesting). Simultaneously, the harvester also converts the ambient vibration/motion at a lower frequency to higher frequency without mechanical wear-out (i.e., noncontact frequency up-conversion). Through modifying the configuration, the oscillating frequency is tunable. By frequency tuning, the harvester’s oscillating frequency and ambient vibration frequency are able to be matched to maximize the power output. Experimental results show the peak voltage, peak power, and frequency conversion of one single piezoelectric beam of the harvester under an in-plane and out-of-plane vibration is up to 800 mV, 640 nW, and from 7 to 56 Hz, and 27 mV, 729 pW, and from 1 to 294 Hz, respectively. These results confirm the harvester is capable of harnessing energy from 3-D and three-axial mechanical motion/vibration, addressing frequency-mismatching issue, avoiding mechanical wear-out problems, and producing a stable voltage output. Due to these, the energy-harvesting approach will enable more novel and practical wireless sensors network applications in the future.