Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Width Reduction Effect on the Output Power of Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Beam

Considering that global energy resources are decreasing, energy harvesting from environment has become more important. One of the most important methods of power scavenging from environmental vibrations is energy harvesting using piezoelectric materials, and researchers have recently focused on optimizing this type of energy harvesters. In this paper, the effect of decreasing beam width on the amount of harvested energy from an oscillating piezoelectric cantilever beam is investigated using experimental and numerical methods. In this study, one of the newest piezoelectric materials called EAPap cellulose has been utilized. At first, a fixed-width beam was investigated, and then two beams with half-width of the initial beams, were analyzed in series and parallel connections with the same boundary conditions, and in the next stage, the unit cantilever was divided into three equal parts and serial and parallel states of these beams have been investigated and the results are compared with laboratory data. It is seen that if the width of a beam is divided into several equal parts and some beams with fewer width and series connection are utilized, amount of harvested energy is significantly greater than the initial beam.