Experimental investigation of energy harvesting from triple-layer piezoelectric bender

Piezoelectric material can convert ambient vibration into useful electrical power and the electrical power is low power usually. Recently, as micro-consumption electronic systems are improving steadily, piezoelectric generator has a chance to a convenient alternative to traditional batteries. In this spirit, this paper examines through the experimentation a sort of piezoelectric triple layer benders that can be mounted to a moving base and used for generating electrical power. Firstly the device for power harvesting is fabricated. Then the electrical impedance of the piezoelectric triple layer benders is investigated and we obtain an equivalent circuit model of fabrication symmetrical triple-layer piezoelectric element. Features of the voltage and current are studied experimentally, maximum available power of bending vibration piezoelectric bender output are also analyzed. Finally, the working parameters of the optimal power transfer are presented. The test results shown in this paper indicate the potential of fabrication symmetrical triple-layer piezoelectric benders for utilization in energy harvesting applications.