Actuator-flex cable energy harvester in computer hard disk drives

A prototype energy harvester that transforms flex cable vibration energy from actuator seek operations into electric energy is presented in this paper. Combined stress-piezoelectric model is developed to portray dynamics and energy generation of the flex cable-PDVF composite largely deformed elastica via finite element formulation. This paper validates the use of PVDF film on flex cable as a potential energy harvester media to capture wasted mechanical vibration energy generated during seek operations.