An Experimental Investigation into Width Reduction Effect on the Efficiency of Piezopolymer Vibration Energy Harvester

Now piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesters can produce more than 300 microwatts per square centimeter and this has led to a suitable method for power energy harvesting for electronic devices with low power problem. The use of new technology and materials in manufacturing energy harvesting devices can greatly fix the problems in the current energy harvesting structures. In this work, using EAPap piezopolymer films, the cantilever energy harvesters are made and are split into equal parts with smaller widths. Once a beam is divided into two equal parts and once again is divided into three equal parts. Then the smaller cantilevers are connected together in series and parallel and the effect of binding were also noted. It was observed that splitting a beam into several beams with less width and connecting the beams in series or parallel, can increase the current, voltage and the resulting power output. Parallel connection create more current flow and series connection, causes more output voltage.