Characteristics of electrical power generation from lead zirconate titanatepiezoelectric ceramics under cyclic loading

The influence of oscillation condition on the electrical power generation properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric ceramics is investigated. It is found that the power generation increases with an increase of both applied load and load frequency. At lower loading frequencies, e.g., 0.1 and 0.5 Hz, the voltage rises instantly to the maximum level under square-wave mode, although the voltage increases gradually under triangular-wave mode. After this initial increase, there is a rapid fall to zero, followed by generation of increasingly negative voltage as the applied load is removed for both wave modes. Variation of the voltage is reflected by the cyclic loading at higher loading frequencies, 15 and 30 Hz. On the basis of the obtained experimental results for the two wave modes, the electrical power generation characteristics of PZT ceramics are proposed, and the voltages generated during loading and unloading are accurately estimated by numerical analysis.