Experimental characterization of cantilever-type piezoelectric generator operating at resonance for vibration energy harvesting

A cantilever-type resonant piezoelectric generator (RPG) has been designed by gluing a PZT patch working in d31 mode onto a glass fibre reinforced composite cantilever beam with a discrete mass applied on its free end. The electrical and dynamic behaviour of the RPG prototype has been investigated by carrying out laboratory tests aimed to assess the effect of specific design parameters, specifically the electric resistance load and the excitation frequency. Results showed that an optimum load resistance exists, at which power generation is maximized. Moreover, it has been showed that power generation is strongly influenced by the vibration frequency highlighting that, at resonance, output power can be increased by more than one order of magnitude. Possible applications include inertial resonant harvester for energy recovery from vibrating machines, sea waves or wind flux and self-powering of wireless sensor nodes.