Increased-bandwidth, meandering vibration energy harvester

This paper details how a distributed proof mass can be used to achieve an increased operational bandwidth in a low-frequency, meandering piezoelectric vibration energy harvester. The fabricated device features two closely spaced resonant modes at 33 Hz and 43.3 Hz with measured RMS output powers of 107.3 μW and 74.9 μW, respectively, at a peak acceleration magnitude of 0.2 g. The output power of this system remains above 25 μW in the frequency band from 32.3 Hz up to 45 Hz. The increased bandwidth is enabled by the unique frequency response characteristics of the coupled system.