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A Polymer-based Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvester with a 3D Meshed-Core Structure
Published on: February 20, 2019
A Bio-Inspired Vibration Energy Harvesting System with Internal Resonance and Slapping Mechanism for Enhanced
Yi-Ren Wang1, Shian-Hsuan Chen1, Su-Sheng Ma1
1Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tamkang University, Tamsui District, New Taipei City 25137, Taiwan.
Abstract:
This study presents the development and validation of a bio-inspired vibration energy harvesting system, termed the Bio-Inspired Epiphytic-Plant Slapping Vibration Energy Harvesting System (BIS-VEHS). Inspired by the swaying and slapping behavior of epiphytic plants, the system integrates a circular plate, an elastic beam, a surface-bonded piezoelectric patch (PZT), and a lever-type slapping mechanism to enhance energy conversion. A nonlinear beam model is established and analyzed using the method of multiple scales, through which a 1:3 internal resonance between the first and third bending modes is identified as a key mechanism for promoting energy transfer from higher to lower modes. Time responses are obtained via numerical simulation using the Runge-Kutta method, and the model is validated experimentally. The results confirm that both internal resonance and the slapping mechanism significantly increase the harvested voltage compared with non-resonant and non-slapping configurations. Comparative tests under different excitation modes and plate configurations show good agreement between theory and experiment, with most discrepancies within 10%. These findings demonstrate that the BIS-VEHS is a promising candidate for sustainable low-frequency vibration energy harvesting, particularly for autonomous low-power sensor applications.
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