International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, 2014

Vol. 5, No. 3, 152–168, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19475411.2014.919971

Electromechanical modeling and experimental analysis of a

compression-based piezoelectric vibration energy harvester
X.Z. Jianga, Y.C Lia*, J. Wangb and J.C. Lia
a
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology,
University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, 15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia; bSchool
of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, 200 Xiaolingwei Street,
Xuanwu District, Nanjing 210094, China
(Received 19 November 2013; final version received 28 April 2014)

Over the past few decades, wireless sensor networks have been widely used in the field
of structure health monitoring of civil, mechanical, and aerospace systems. Currently,
most wireless sensor networks are battery-powered and it is costly and unsustainable
for maintenance because of the requirement for frequent battery replacements. As an
attempt to address such issue, this article theoretically and experimentally studies a
compression-based piezoelectric energy harvester using a multilayer stack configura-
tion, which is suitable for civil infrastructure system applications where large com-
pressive loads occur, such as heavily vehicular loading acting on pavements. In this
article, we firstly present analytical and numerical modeling of the piezoelectric multi-
layer stack under axial compressive loading, which is based on the linear theory of
piezoelectricity. A two-degree-of-freedom electromechanical model, considering both
the mechanical and electrical aspects of the proposed harvester, was developed to
characterize the harvested electrical power under the external electrical load. Exact
closed-form expressions of the electromechanical models have been derived to analyze
the mechanical and electrical properties of the proposed harvester. The theoretical
analyses are validated through several experiments for a test prototype under harmonic
excitations. The test results exhibit very good agreement with the analytical analyses
and numerical simulations for a range of resistive loads and input excitation levels.
Keywords: vibration energy harvesting; piezoelectric; 2-DOF electromechanical
model; large-force; low-frequency

1. Introduction
Because of the advantages over the existing wired technologies, wireless sensors and sensor
networks have become ubiquitous in the field of civil structure health monitoring in recent
years. Currently, the wireless sensors network is battery-powered and it is not only costly for
maintenance but the requirement for frequent battery replacements raises serious reliability
and sustainability issues in practice. The task of replacing battery sometimes can become
extremely difficult, especially in case of structural health monitoring applications, where
there are hundreds and thousands of sensors that are often installed during construction
stages. For these sensors, if it is not impossible, for the least it is impractical to gain access,
remove protection, and replace batteries. The disposal of large quantities of batteries may

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

© 2014 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.
 International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials 153

also lead to serious environmental hazards. Although the power requirement of a single
wireless node is quite low (normal lower than hundreds of μW), the wireless sensor network
required significant power supply since the number of the sensor nodes and the computa-
tional demands have drastically increased due to advanced algorithms to enable perfor-
mance of structural health monitoring [1], especially for large-scale civil infrastructures. So,
it is of great necessity to seek alternative power sources for the sensor networks. Due to the
low-power consumption requirements of an individual wireless sensor, a possible solution
to this problem is the technologies that enable harvesting ambient vibration mechanical
energy to power wireless sensor networks [1,2].
Obtaining power from ambient vibration sources is generally known as vibration
energy harvesting, or vibration energy scavenging. Several methods, such as electromag-
netic induction, electrostatic generation, and piezoelectric generation, can be utilized to
harvest electrical energy from external vibrations [3]. While each of the aforementioned
methods can generate a useful amount of energy, piezoelectric materials have received
more attention especially in the recent years due to their ability to directly convert applied
strain energy into usable electrical energy, as well as its large power density, and ease of
application [4–6]. Comparing to matured energy harvesting technologies for large-scale
alternative energy generation using wind turbine and solar cells, the development of
energy harvesting technology by using piezoelectric devices on a scale appropriate for
small, low-power, embedded wireless sensing systems is still in its developmental stage,
particularly for application of structural health monitoring sensing system. In 2002, Elvin
et al. proposed a self-powered damage detection sensor using piezoelectric patches [7]. A
piezoelectric harvester in cantilever beam configuration is utilized to convert the applied
load into electricity and provide a power for the sensors to measure the strain and to send
the results to a moving cart. In 2006, Discenzo et al. developed a prototype self-powered
sensor node that performs sensing (local processing) and telemeters the results to a central
node for pump condition monitoring applications [8]. The device was mounted on an oil
pump, and a cantilever piezoelectric beam tuned to the excitation frequency was
embedded with the sensor node to scavenge energy from the pump vibration. The test
results showed that the output power could reach to 40 mW. In 2008, Lallart et al.
proposed a self-powered wireless structural health monitoring system [9]. A piezoelectric
harvester based on the beam structure, using the synchronized switch harvesting method,
was utilized to convert ambient mechanical energy into electricity and powered the
structure health monitoring system. In 2011, Kim et al. investigated the possibility of
harvesting energy from bridges by converting the potential energy of vibrating bridge
systems into electrical energy using a cantilever piezoelectric harvester and obtained good
results [10]. Of the published results that focus on using piezoelectric harvesters scaven-
ging electricity for the wireless sensor networks, most of them have focused on harvesting
energy using cantilever beams configuration [11–13]. However, the cantilever beam
cannot sustain large force, and in large force vibration environments, such as the large
compressive loadings induced by the heavy trucks on the pavement, the piezoelectric
harvester in cantilever beam configuration would be more frangible.
In this article, a compression-based piezoelectric harvester was developed to scavenge
energy from surrounding vibrations to provide power for the wireless sensor networks.
The piezoelectric material used in this novel harvester is constructed in multilayer stack
configuration that is robust and suitable for large force vibrations existing in the civil
infrastructure system applications. In comparison with the monolithic configuration, the
stack structure can reduce the voltage output and the matching resistive load of the
harvester to a more manageable level [14]; therefore the piezoelectric stack is selected
154 X.Z. Jiang et al.

in this research to scavenge vibration energy. By now, the development of models for
cantilevered piezoelectric harvester has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers.
And there are already many models available to evaluate the harvested power of canti-
levered harvester [15–17]. Roundy et al. [18], Aldraihem and Baz [19] have conducted
studies on the multiple-degree-of-freedom (DOF) models of cantilevered piezoelectric
harvesters. Tang and Yang [20] presented a novel multiple-DOF harvesting model of the
cantilevered piezoelectric harvester. Wu et al. [21] presented a nonlinear two-degree-of-
freedom (2-DOF) model of the cantilevered piezoelectric harvester to enhance the per-
formance of piezoelectric energy harvesters. However, to date, there is limited research
reported on the development of stack-configuration-based piezoelectric harvesters.
Keawboonchuay and Engel [22,23], Platt et al. [14,24], and Feenstra et al. [25] have
done some feasibility investigations on the piezoelectric harvester in stack configuration;
however, comprehensive research on the piezoelectric harvester constructing in multilayer
stack configuration is still limited. Moreover, a piezoelectric harvester system contains
two fundamental elements: the mechanical part that generates electrical energy, and an
electrical circuit that converts and rectifies the generated energy in a form of an alternating
voltage, into a constant voltage. The efficiency of the energy harvester design depends not
only on the piezoelectric harvester itself but also on its integration with the electrical
circuit. Therefore, an electromechanical model that considers both the mechanical and
electrical aspects of the proposed harvester is of great importance to optimize the design
as well as for understanding the behavior of the piezoelectric harvester.
In this article, we firstly investigate the longitudinal mode of the piezoelectric stack for
the aim of finding the intermedium force that will be used to convert vibration energy into
electrical energy. Then, the electromechanical model of the proposed compression-based
piezoelectric stack harvester is presented to investigate the ability of harvesting electrical
power and analyze the electrical properties of the harvester. Finally, we present a series of
tests conducted to verify the theoretical findings. Test results strongly verify the validity of
the proposed theoretical analysis and show that the harvester can generate a maximum
200-mW electrical power under the harmonic excitation with 1360-N amplitude and 6-Hz
frequency. Also, the harvested electrical power is proportional to the level of external
excitation.

2. Electromechanical models
2.1. Electrical characteristics of the piezoelectric wafer-stack
The vibration energy harvester proposed in this article employs piezoelectric multilayer
stack to endure large compressive loads that exist in the field of civil infrastructure
systems application. In practice, the proposed harvester can be embedded into the civil
building, roads, and highways to harvest electrical energy, just like the energy harvesting
system shown in INNOWATTECH LTD’s patent [26]. When subjected to an external
force, the piezoelectric stack will produce an electric charge and convert external kinetic
energy into electricity. Therefore, the piezoelectric stack is the media to convert kinetic
energy to electrical energy and it is necessary to investigate the electrical reaction of the
stack under external excitation before developing an accurate model to present a piezo-
electric harvester. Figure 1 shows the sketch of the piezoelectric stack under applying
external force. The force, F(t), used in this analysis is a harmonic excitation to simplify
the analysis. The rubber, as shown in Figure 1, is used to protect the wafer-stack from
damage under external large force due to the brittleness of piezoelectric materials.
 International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials 155

Figure 1. Construction of the piezoelectric stack.

According to the IEEE Standard on Piezoelectricity, under the external force, giving
by the strain S, stress T, electric field E, and electric displacement D, the constitutive
relations of the piezoelectric energy harvesting device are typically defined by:




T3 cE3 e33 S3
¼ (1)
D3 e33 εs33 E3

where e33 is the piezoelectric coefficient, c3E is the elastic stiffness constant under a
constant electric field, and ε33s is the dielectric constant under constant strain. Note that
the subscripts of the state variables show that all constitutive qualities are generated and
applied on the thickness direction of the piezoelectric material.
Figure 2 shows the electrical characteristics of the piezoelectric stack, and it needs to
be pointed out that the polarization direction of each wafer is opposite to each other. For
the configuration as shown in Figure 2, the constitutive equations of the piezoelectric
wafer-stack can be written as:

 
S3 ¼ xp h; E3 ¼ Vp h; T3 ¼ F=A; D3 ¼ Q=A (2)

Figure 2. Longitudinal mode of the piezoelectric stack.

156 X.Z. Jiang et al.

where xp is the strain of the piezoelectric wafer-stack under the external force, Vp is the
output voltage of the wafer-stack, Q is the electric charge, A is the cross-section area of
the wafer-stack, and h is the length of the wafer-stack. To simplify the analysis, we
assume the length of the stack is equal to the entire thickness of all the piezoelectric
wafers (h = nt) with identical dimension, where n and t are the number and thickness of a
single piezoelectric wafer, respectively. According to the relationship in Equation (2), the
constitutive equations of the piezoelectric wafer-stack from Equation (1) can be rewrit-
ten as:




F k N xp
¼ p (3)
Q N CP Vp

It can be found from Equation (3) that Vp is generated by the external force. The
force applied to the piezoelectric disk without any electrical input can produce
deformation xp, the relationship of which is regarded as the elastic coefficient kp of
the mechanical characteristic. Piezoelectricity also possesses an electrical property
between the voltage and the electric charge, which can be modeled as a capacitor
Cp. The electromechanical conversion coefficient N is defined as the electromechanical
coupling coefficient. Based on Equation (3), there is a critical force that is actually
used to generate electrical voltage. This critical force can be denoted as Fe and
written as:

Fe ¼ NVp (4)

Equation (4) gives an explicit relationship of vibration force and output voltage, which
is used to build the electromechanical model of the piezoelectric harvester.

2.2. 2-DOF electromechanical model without a rectifier circuit

Considering the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the rubber and piezo-
electric stack under the external force, the electromechanical model without a rectified
circuit of the proposed harvester is illustrated in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, F(t)
is the excitation force. Parameters mr, cr, and kr are used to represent the mass,
damping and elastic coefficient of the rubber layer, respectively. Parameters mp and
kp are used to represent the mass and elastic coefficients of the piezoelectric wafer-
stack, respectively. Parameters ch and kh are used to represent the mechanical damping
and elastic coefficients of the mechanical structure of the harvester, respectively.
Parameters xr and xp are used to represent the deformation of the rubber layer and
piezoelectric wafer-stack under the external force, respectively. Parameter Cp is used to
represent the clamped capacitance of the piezoelectric wafer-stack, and Rp is used to
represent the piezoelectric leakage resistance and the electric loss property of the
piezoelectric wafer-stack. Rl is used to represent the external electrical load. I and
Vp are used to represent the output current and voltage of the harvester, respectively.
Fe is used to link the mechanical parts and electrical parts of the model and convert
mechanical energy into electrical energy. The governing equations of the model can be
written as:
 International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials 157

Figure 3. 2-DOF electromechanical model of the proposed harvester.

8
> mr €y þ cr y_ þ kr y ¼ F ðt Þ  mr €xp
>
<
mp€xp þ ch x_ p þ kh xp þ kp xp þ Fe ¼ F ðt Þ  mr €xp  mr €y (5)
>
>
: N x_ þ C V_ þ VP ¼ 0:
p p p
R

where y is defined as y = xr − xp; VRP , i.e. I, is the current output of the harvester; R is the
equivalent resistance of two parallel resistances Rp and Rl. In general, p is much higher
than the load resistance, so that R ≈ Rl.
Transforming Equation (5) into the frequency domain and dividing the first equation
by mr, the second equation by mp, and the third equation by Cp, we obtain the following:

8 
>
> ω2 þ 2ζ 1 ω1 ωj þ ω21 Y ðωÞ  ω2 Xp ðωÞ ¼ Fmðωr Þ
<  NV ðωÞ
ð1 þ μÞω2 þ 2ζ 2 ω2 ωj þ ω22 Xp ðωÞ  μω2 Y ðωÞ þ mp p ¼ Fmðωp Þ (6)
>
>
:  ωNjXp ðωÞ þ ωj þ 1 V ðωÞ ¼ 0
Cp RCp p

Here, ω is the angular frequency of the exciting vibration; Yp(ω), Xp(ω), Vp(ω), and
F(ω) are the frequency counterparts of y, xp, Vp, and F(t), respectively. Other parameters,
i.e. ω1, ω2, ζ1, ζ2, μ, are defined as:

rffiffiffiffiffiffi sffiffiffiffiffiffi
kr ka cr ch mr
ω1 ¼ ; ω2 ¼ ; ζ 1 ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; ζ 2 ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; μ¼ ; ka ¼ kp þ kh
mr mp 2 m r kr 2 m p ka mp
(7)

Solving Equation (6), we obtain the following:

158 X.Z. Jiang et al.

ðα2 þ 2ζ 1 ψαjÞF ðωÞ

ka ðα2  ψ 2 þ 2ζ 1 ψαjÞ
Xp ðωÞ ¼ (8)
μψ 4 βψke2 j
1  ð1 þ μÞψ 2 þ 2ζ 2 ψj  2 þ
α  ψ þ 2ζ 1 ψαj 1 þ βψj
2

ðα2 þ 2ζ 1 ψαjÞFðωÞ
N ðα2  ψ 2 þ 2ζ 1 ψαjÞ
V p ðω Þ ¼
 (9)
μψ 4 1 þ βψj
1  ð1 þ μÞψ þ 2ζ 2 ψj  2
2
þ1
α  ψ þ 2ζ 1 ψαj βψke2 j
2

where α and ψ are the normalized frequencies, β is the normalized electrical resistance,
and ke is the alternative electromechanical coupling coefficient. Those dimensionless
parameters can be calculated as:

ω1 ω N2
α¼ ; ψ¼ ; β ¼ ω2 RCp ; ke2 ¼ (10)
ω2 ω2 Cp ka

Based on Equation (9), the voltage generated by the harvester can be rewritten as:

F ðωÞke2 βψα
V p ðω Þ ¼   ½ðA3 α þ 2A4 ζ 1 ψ Þ þ ð2A3 ζ 1 ψ  A4 αÞj (11)
N A23 þ A24

where parameters A3 and A4 can be calculated as:

A3 ¼ A1 βψ þ ðα2  ψ 2 Þβke2 ψ þ A2
(12)
A4 ¼ A2 βψ þ 2ζ 1 αβke2 ψ 2  A1

In Equation (12), parameters A1 and A2 are defined as:

A1 ¼ α2  ψ 2  ð1 þ μÞα2 ψ 2 þ ψ 4  4ζ 1 ζ 2 ψ 2 α
(13)
A2 ¼ 2ψ ½αð1  ψ 2  μψ 2 Þζ 1 þ ðα2  ψ 2 Þζ 2 

Therefore, based on Equation (11), the electrical power generated by the harvester can
be calculated as:
h i
2 4 2 2 2 2 2
Vp  Vp F ðωÞ ke β ψ α ðA3 α þ 2A4 ζ 1 ψ Þ þ ð2A3 ζ 1 ψ  A4 αÞ
P¼ ¼  2 (14)
2R 2N 2 A23 þ A24 R

In Equation (14), Vp* is the complex conjugate of Vp. From Equation (14), it can be
concluded that the electrical power, generated by the presented piezoelectric stack har-
vester, depends on the external vibration characteristics (frequency ψ and amplitude
F(ω)), the mechanical properties of the system (such as the natural frequency ω1 and
ω2, the mechanical damping factor ζ1 and ζ2, and the stiffness of the harvester ka), and the
electrical properties of the harvesting system (such as the normalized electrical load β and
the overall electromechanical coupling coefficient of the harvester ke). Also, the value of
parameters A3, A4, and β are all dependent on the electrical load R; therefore, the value of
 International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials 159

the load has a great impact on the electrical power output of the harvester. It is of great
need to find out the optimal external resistive load, on which the power generated by the
harvester reaches its maximum value.
Based on Equation (14), the optimal resistive load and the maximum electrical power
generated by the harvester can be calculated as:

A F ðωÞ2 α4 ke4 Cp ω
Ropt ¼   and Pmax ¼   (15)
A þ α ke  ψ 2 ke2 Cp ω
2 2 4N 2 A A þ α2 ke2  ψ 2 ke2

where A = α2  ψ 2  ð1 þ μÞα2 ψ 2 þ ψ 4
Normally, the nature frequency of the piezoelectric stack is very high (around
1.78e4 Hz in this design). Therefore, based on Equation (10), it is reasonable to assume
that the normalized frequency ψ can be set to zero under low input frequency conditions
(lower than 10 Hz). Under this assumption, the optimal electrical load and the maximum
generated power can be rewritten as:

1 FðωÞ2 ke2 ω
Ropt ¼ and Pmax ¼ (16)
ð1 þ ke2 ÞCp ω 4ka ð1 þ ke2 Þ

Equation (16) indicates that the maximum electrical power generated by the proposed
piezoelectric harvester is proportional to the frequency of external excitation. And the
maximum harvested energy is proportional to the square of the force amplitude of external
excitation. Therefore, it indicates that the proposed compression-based piezoelectric
vibration harvester is a linear system, and the output power of the harvester increases
with the input excitation level. It can also be found that the generated electrical power
increases with the electromechanical coupling coefficient ke. Equation (10) shows that the
value of ke is determined by the mechanical framework of the harvester and the properties
of the selected piezoelectric materials. Therefore, careful selection of the piezoelectric
material and optimal design of the mechanical structure are very important to obtain
higher electromechanical coupling coefficient ke resulting in optimal scavenging electrical
energy under ambient vibration.
Meanwhile, Equation (16) shows that the optimal external resistive load for the
maximum electrical power generation is not a constant value and changes with the
parameters of the harvester, the properties of the piezoelectric material, and the input
frequency. The value of the optimal resistive load is inversely proportional to the input
frequency and the capacitance of the piezoelectric material. For a weak electromechanical
coupling coefficient ke, the optimal electrical load can be simplified as 1/Cpω.

3. Experimental testing
3.1. Experimental setup
The proposed piezoelectric harvester was designed and fabricated to verify the theoretical
findings. The sketch of the test setup is shown in Figure 4, and Figure 5 shows the photo
of the test system. As shown in Figure 4, the piezoelectric stacks are installed in a host
structure to form the harvester system. Table 1 gives the properties of the piezoelectric
stack. Three stacks connected in parallel are used in this design to scavenge electrical
energy. One side of the host structure is fixed on the ground and another side is connected
to the shake table that is used to input the vibration excitations. An outer spring, as shown
160 X.Z. Jiang et al.

Figure 4. Sketch of the test setup.

Figure 5. Photo of the test setup.

Table 1. Characteristic properties of the piezoelectric stack.

Material properties Value Stack properties Value

Material type PZT-8 Diameter (mm) 20

Coupling factors k33 0.68 Height hp (mm) 34
Piezoelectric constant d33 (pC/N) 280 Single wafer thickness t (mm) 0.85
Dielectric constants ε33/ε0 1000 Layer number 36
Young’s modulus YE33 (1010 N/m) 7.1 Mass mp (g) 87
Curie point (°C) 320 Capacitance Cp (μF) 0.12
Density (103 kg/m3) 7.7 Natural frequency ωn (109 N/m) 1.1

in Figure 4, was used to transfer shake table’s motions into vibrational force and apply on
the harvester. The stiffness of the outer spring has been tested and shown in Figure 6, and
the spring stiffness is 34 N/mm. In the test, the shake table firstly compressed the outer
spring for 50 mm as preload (i.e. 1700 N) on the piezoelectric harvester and then reset to
zero. Afterward, the shake table performs different harmonic motions with different ampli-
tudes (i.e. 10, 20, 30, and 40 mm) and applies exciting harmonic mechanical loads with
different amplitudes (i.e. 340, 680, 1020, and 1360 N) on the test prototype by using the
outer spring. The harvester generates electrical power when the exciting loads from the
shake table apply on the piezoelectric stacks. Two series-connected rheostats, as shown in
 International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials 161

Figure 6. Spring stiffness static test from MTS machine.

Figure 5, were chosen to serve as the electrical load of the harvester to investigate the
relationship between the power output and the electrical resistance. Data acquisition system
was used to record the output voltage signal applied on the electrical load.

3.2. Experimental results comparison and discussion

Figure 7 shows the actual exciting force applied on the piezoelectric harvester and the
real-time output voltage of the harvester with 750-kΩ electrical load when the shake table
performs 20-mm/2-Hz sinusoidal motion. It can be seen that the preloading force is

Figure 7. The applied force vs. output voltage under 20-mm/2-Hz motion.
162 X.Z. Jiang et al.

Figure 8. Output voltage under 680-N/2-Hz excitation.

1700 N and the harmonic force applied on the harvester has 680-N amplitude and 2-Hz
frequency when the shake table performs 20-mm/2-Hz sinusoidal motion. Under this
harmonic force, the voltage generated by the piezoelectric harvester is an AC voltage with
the same frequency of the external excitation. Also, as shown in Figure 7, there is a phase
change between the excitation and the output voltage, which is caused by the response
time of the outer spring and energy harvesting system itself.
Under the same input shown in Figure 7, Figure 8 shows the real-time output voltages
of the proposed piezoelectric stack harvester on different electrical loads, i.e. 292, 480,
and 750 kΩ. It can be seen that the voltage output of the harvester is an AC voltage and its
amplitude increases with the external resistance. Figure 8 indicates that the output voltage
of the proposed piezoelectric stack harvester under vibrational excitation relates to
external electrical loads.
Figures 9 and 10 give the relationships between the amplitudes of the generated
voltage/power with different external electrical loads under the applied excitation shown
in Figure 7, i.e. 680-N/2-Hz excitation. Figure 9 indicates that the amplitude of the output
voltage, within a certain range of external resistance, increases with the value of the
external loads and then trends to constant after the external resistance exceeding a certain
value. Figure 10 indicates that the power generated by the proposed harvester firstly
increases with the value of external loads and then trends to decrease after the external
resistance exceeding a certain value. Based on the results of Figures 9 and 10, it can be
obtained that the electrical power generated by the compression-based piezoelectric
harvester depends not only on the harvester itself but also on the external electrical
load, and there is an optimal electrical load on which the electrical power harvested by
the harvester reaches maximum value under the given exciting vibration environment.
Figures 11 and 12 show the relationship between the output voltage/power and the
external loads under the excitations with different force amplitudes, i.e. 340, 680, 1020,
and 1360 N, and fixed frequency, 2 Hz. It can be obtained that (1) the electrical power
generated by the harvester increases with the amplitudes of exciting forces, and the
maximum harvested power increases, from 2 to 45 mW, when the exciting force
 International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials 163

Figure 9. Output voltage vs. electrical loads under 680-N/2-Hz excitation.

Figure 10. Output power vs. electrical loads under 680-N/2-Hz excitation.

amplitude increases from 340 to 1360 N and (2) the optimal electrical load does not
change its value with the exciting force amplitude under the fixed frequency.
Figures 13 and 14 show the relationship between the output voltage/power and the
external loads under the excitations with different frequency, i.e. 1, 2, 4, and 6 Hz, and
fixed force amplitude, 1360 N. It can be obtained that (1) the electrical power generated
by the harvester increases with the frequency of external excitation, and the maximum
harvested power increases from 25 to 200 mW, when the exciting frequency increases
from 1 to 6 Hz and (2) the value of the optimal electrical load is inversely proportional to
164 X.Z. Jiang et al.

Figure 11. Output voltage comparison under different excitations with same frequency.

Figure 12. Harvested power comparison under different excitations with same frequency.

the input frequency of the excitation, and its value decreases from 1400 to 300 kΩ, when
the exciting frequency increases from 1 to 6 Hz.
For the aim of clearly showing the relationship between the harvested electrical energy
with the external excitation, Figure 15 gives the relationship between the maximum power
outputs with the input frequencies when the exciting force amplitude is fixed on 1360 N,
and Figure 16 gives the relationship between the maximum power outputs with the force
amplitude when the frequency of the excitation fixed on 6 Hz. Based on the Figures 15
and 16, it can be obtained that the electrical energy that can be harvested by the proposed
 International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials 165

Figure 13. Output voltage comparison under different excitations with same force amplitude.

Figure 14. Harvested power comparison under different excitations with same force amplitude.

harvester is proportional to the frequency of external harmonic excitation and is propor-

tional to the square of the force amplitude of the harmonic excitation. Therefore, the
proposed piezoelectric energy harvester is a linear system, and the output power increases
with the external excitation level in the considered frequency and force.

4. Conclusion
Feasibility of a compression-based piezoelectric multilayer stack energy harvester as a
promising alternative power for wireless sensor networks in civil structure health
166 X.Z. Jiang et al.

Figure 15. Maximum harvested power vs. exciting frequency.

Figure 16. Maximum harvested power vs. exciting force amplitude.

monitoring applications is investigated in this article. Investigation of energy harvesting of

such system for large force vibration existing in civil structure applications was carried out
theoretically and experimentally. Based on the linear theory of piezoelectricity, this article
presents the theoretical analysis of the piezoelectric multilayer stack harvester. The
theoretical analysis that has been verified with a series of experimental results can be
used to synthetically analyze the behavior of vibration-to-electricity of the compression-
type piezoelectric stack harvesting system. The experimental results show that the pro-
posed piezoelectric stack harvester can generate up to 200-mW electrical power under
harmonic excitation and it is sufficient for powering most normal wireless sensors.
Additionally, based on the theoretical analysis and experimental results, the following
conclusions can be acquired:
 International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials 167

(1) The electrical power scavenged by the proposed piezoelectric harvester depends
not only on the harvester itself but also on the external electrical load. There is an
optimal electrical load for a given exciting vibration, with which the electrical
power harvested by the harvester reaches maximum value.
(2) The optimal electrical load is inversely proportional to exciting frequency, and the
value of the optimal electrical load is not affected by the force amplitude of
excitation. Under the same input frequency, the optimal electrical load value
remains constant for different force amplitudes.
(3) The proposed compression-based piezoelectric energy harvester is a linear system,
and the electrical energy that can be harvested by the proposed vibration harvester
increases with the frequency and force amplitude of the harmonic excitation.

Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China under Grand 51175265.

References
[1] K.A. Cook-Chennault, N. Thambi, and A.M. Sastry, Powering MEMS portable devices – a
review of non-regenerative and regenerative power supply systems with special emphasis on
piezoelectric energy harvesting systems, Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008), 043001. (33 pp).
doi:10.1088/0964-1726/17/4/043001.
[2] C.O. Mathúna, T. O’Donnell, R.V. Martinez-Catala, J. Rohan, and B. O’Flynn, Energy
scavenging for long-term deployable wireless sensor networks, Talanta. 75 (2008), pp. 613–
623. doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2007.12.021.
[3] C.B. Williams and R.B. Yates, Analysis of a micro-electric generator for microsystems, The
8th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators, and Eurosensors IX,
Stockholm, 25–29 June, 1995, pp. 369–372.
[4] S.R. Anton and H.A. Sodano, A review of power harvesting using piezoelectric materials
(2003–2006), Smart Mater. Struct. 16 (2007), pp. R1–R21. doi:10.1088/0964-1726/16/3/R01.
[5] A. Harb, Energy harvesting: State-of-the-art, Renew. Energ. 36 (2011), pp. 2641–2654.
[6] H. Wu, L. Tang, Y. Yang, and C.K. Soh, A novel two-degrees-of-freedom piezoelectric energy
harvester, J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct. 24 (2013), pp. 357–368. doi:10.1177/
1045389X12457254.
[7] N. Elvin, A. Elvin, and D.H. Choi, A self-powered damage detection sensor, J. Strain Anal.
Eng. Des. 38 (2003), pp. 115–124. doi:10.1243/030932403321163640.
[8] F.M. Discenzo, D. Chung, and K.A. Loparo, Pump condition monitoring using self-powered
wireless sensors, Sound Vibration. 40 (2006), pp. 12–15.
[9] M. Lallart, D. Guyomar, Y. Jayet, L. Petit, E. Lefeuvre, T. Monnier, P. Guy, and C. Richard,
Synchronized switch harvesting applied to self-powered smart systems: Piezoactive microge-
nerators for autonomous wireless receivers, Sens. Actuators A. 147 (2008), pp. 263–272.
doi:10.1016/j.sna.2008.04.006.
[10] S.H. Kim, J.H. Ahn, H.M. Chung, and H.W. Kang, Analysis of piezoelectric effects on various
loading conditions for energy harvesting in a bridge system, Sens. Actuators A. 167 (2011),
pp. 468–483. doi:10.1016/j.sna.2011.03.007.
[11] S. Roundy, P.K. Wright, and J. Rabaey, A study of low level vibrations as a power source for
wireless sensor nodes, Comput. Commun. 26 (2003), pp. 1131–1144. doi:10.1016/S0140-
3664(02)00248-7.
[12] L. Gu, Low-frequency piezoelectric energy harvesting prototype suitable for the MEMS
implementation, Microelectron. J. 42 (2011), pp. 277–282. doi:10.1016/j.mejo.2010.10.007.
[13] P.D. Mitcheson, E.M. Yeatman, G.K. Rao, A.S. Holmes, and T.C. Green, Energy harvesting
from human and machine motion for wireless electronic devices, Proc. IEEE. 96 (2008), pp.
1457–1486. doi:10.1109/JPROC.2008.927494.
168 X.Z. Jiang et al.

[14] S.R. Platt, S. Farritor, and H. Haider, On low-frequency electric power generation with PZT
ceramics, IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron. 10 (2005), pp. 240–252. doi:10.1109/
TMECH.2005.844704.
[15] N.E. duToit, B.L. Wardle, and S. Kim, Design considerations for MEMS-scale piezoelectric
mechanical vibration energy harvesters, Integr. Ferroelectrics. 71 (2005), pp. 121–160.
doi:10.1080/10584580590964574.
[16] N.G. Elvin and A.A. Elvin, A general equivalent circuit model for piezoelectric generators,
Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct. 20 (2009), pp. 3–9. doi:10.1177/1045389X08089957.
[17] A. Erturk and D.J. Inman, Issues in mathematical modeling of piezoelectric energy harvesters,
Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008), 065016. (14 pp). doi:10.1088/0964-1726/17/6/065016.
[18] S. Roundy, E.S. Leland, J. Baker, E. Carleton, E. Reilly, E. Lai, B. Otis, J.M. Rabaey, V.
Sundararajan, and P.K. Wright, Improving power output for vibration-based energy scaven-
gers, IEEE Pervasive Comput. 4 (2005), pp. 28–36. doi:10.1109/MPRV.2005.14.
[19] O. Aldraihem and A. Baz, Energy harvester with a dynamic magnifier, Intell. Mater. Syst.
Struct. 22 (2011), pp. 521–530. doi:10.1177/1045389X11402706.
[20] L.H. Tang and Y.W. Yang, A multiple-degree-of-freedom piezoelectric energy harvesting
model, J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct. 23 (2012), pp. 1631–1647. doi:10.1177/
1045389X12449920.
[21] H. Wu, L.H. Tang, P.V. Avvari, Y.W. Yang, and C.K. Soh, Broadband energy harvesting using
nonlinear 2-DOF configuration, Proc. SPIE 8688, Active and Passive Smart Structures and
Integrated Systems, Town & Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, CA, 2013,
86880B.
[22] C. Keawboonchuay and T.G. Engel, Design, modeling, and implementation of a 30-kW
piezoelectric pulse generator, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 30 (2002), pp. 679–686.
doi:10.1109/TPS.2002.1024270.
[23] C. Keawboonchuay and T.G. Engel, Scaling relationships and maximum peak power genera-
tion in a piezoelectric pulse generator, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 32 (2004), pp. 1879–1885.
doi:10.1109/TPS.2004.835457.
[24] S.R. Platt, S. Farritor, K. Garvin, H. Haider, and H. Haider, The use of piezoelectric ceramics
for electric power generation within orthopedic implants, IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron. 10
(2005), pp. 455–461. doi:10.1109/TMECH.2005.852482.
[25] J. Feenstra, J. Granstrom, and H. Sodano, Energy harvesting through a backpack employing a
mechanically amplified piezoelectric stack, Mech. Syst. Signal Pr. 22 (2008), pp. 721–734.
doi:10.1016/j.ymssp.2007.09.015.
[26] INNOWATTECH LTD., Energy harvesting, International Patent (WO 2009/098676 A1).