Modeling and Simulation of Flow-Based Circular Plate Type Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for Pipeline's Monitoring

This paper shows modeling and simulation of a circular plate type gas flow based piezoelectric energy harvester using COMSOL multiphysics. The harvester can be used for powering wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) utilized in the pipeline's monitoring system. The simulated piezoelectric energy harvester has a unimorph piezoelectric plate having a cylindrical proof mass. The effect of varying the geometrical dimension and boundary and load conditions on the maximum plate deflection, stress, and generated voltage were investigated. The simulation result shows that the plate deflection, generated voltage, and stress produced in the device increases with the increase in applied flow pressure amplitude. An energy harvester with substrate diameter of 27 mm, piezoelectric diameter of 20 mm, overall thickness 0.45 mm and with a proof mass of 22.3 g generates 1.22 V electric potential and 13.8 μW power when 1724 Pa of fluid pressure amplitude is applied. The maximum deflection at the proof mass of the plate is 5.48 μm and maximum stress is 6.87 MPa under the above condition.