Parametric analysis of hybrid tribo-piezoelectric energy harvester

Energy harvesters are widely used in various fields for environmental energy harvesting purposes. Due to the less power output of a single energy harvester, researchers are working on hybridizing energy harvesters. This paper presents a hybrid model of d33 mode piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) and vertical contact mode triboelectric energy harvester (TEH). A Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composite film is used for the PEH unit, and a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite film is used for the TEH unit. The effect of various design parameters like material, structural and experimental parameters are numerically investigated for a periodic motion of hybrid tribo- piezoelectric energy harvester (HTPEH). A genetic algorithm has been used to maximize the harvested energy. This study will help design the prototype of HTPEH according to applications. The HTPEH can generate a significant amount of energy which can be helpful in the applications like designing self-powering electronic devices, robotics, sensors, and harvesting the vibration energy from human, wind, or ocean motion.