Design and Analysis of an Extended Simply Supported Beam Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

The harvesting efficiency of a cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvester is limited by its uneven strain distribution. Moreover, a cantilevered harvester requires a large workspace due to the large displacement of its free end. To address these issues, a novel piezoelectric energy harvester based on an extended simply supported beam is proposed. The proposed design features a simply supported piezoelectric main beam with an extended beam attached to its roller end and a tip mass to reduce the resonant frequency. The theoretical model of the proposed piezoelectric energy harvester is developed based on the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. The model has been experimentally validated through the fabrication of a prototype. The extended beam and tip mass are adjusted to see their influence on the performance of the harvester. The resonant frequency can be maintained by shortening the extended beam and increasing the tip mass simultaneously. A shorter extend beam leads to a more even strain distribution in the piezoelectric layer, resulting in an enhanced output voltage. Moreover, the simulation results show that a torsional spring is installed on the roller joint which greatly influences the voltage output. The strain distribution becomes more even when proper compressive preload is applied on the main beam. Experiments have shown that the proposed design enhances the output power by 86% and reduces tip displacement by 63.2% compared to a traditional cantilevered harvester.