Design Concept and Test Results of Electromechanical Metamaterial Structure for Sensing and Energy Harvesting Applications

This paper deals with the design concept of metamaterial structure for sensing and energy harvesting applications. The paper offers a novel design of an auxetic structure with an integrated smart material that gives this structure additional capabilities. The proposed concept uses additive technology for manufacturing metal structures and embedded piezoceramic elements. The ability to function as a construction part, sensor, actuator, energy harvester or all is very attractive. This paper presents a mechanical design and experiments of a metamaterial structure that is utilized for energy harvesting, sensing, and active damping applications. Its ability to generate usable electric power and sense vibrations within the structure presents an opportunity for further research, especially in terms of scalability and feasibility study for specific applications.