A piezoelectric energy harvester with increased bandwidth based on beam flexural vibrations in perpendicular directions

We propose a new structure for piezoelectric energy harvesters. It consists of an elastic beam with two pairs of piezoelectric films operating with the fundamental flexural modes in perpendicular directions. A one-dimensional model is developed and used to analyze the proposed structure. The output power density is calculated and examined. Results show that, with simultaneous flexural motions in two perpendicular directions, the output power has two peaks close to each other resulting from the two fundamental flexural resonances. The distance between the two peaks can be adjusted through design to make the two peaks merge into one wide peak. Hence, the frequency bandwidth through which energy can be harvested is roughly doubled when compared with conventional beam bimorph energy harvesters operating with flexural motion in one direction and one resonance only.