Performance Optimization of a Proposed Piezoelectric Cantilever Energy Harvester Using Genetic Algorithm

This paper aims to present the performance optimization of a proposed single beam piezoelectric cantilever structure. The design optimization technique is based on genetic algorithms. It optimizes the structure geometrical parameters. By this optimization, the optimum value of the product of output power and bandwidth in a certain frequency domain is found. In the proposed structure, the piezoelectric material is split into different segment. The optimum number and dimension of these segments that maximizing the power bandwidth product is determined. A comparison between the proposed and the conventional structure is presented. Both structures are simulated using Comsol Multi-physics 5. The power bandwidth product in the proposed structure is enhanced. in the proposed structure is enhanced over the traditional structure. The simulation results indicate that the optimum value of the proposed structure is higher than the conventional structure by 9.46 %. In addition, the volume of the proposed structure is less than the conventional structure by 7.65%.