Sensors and Actuators A 262 (2017) 123129

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Sensors and Actuators A: Physical

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sna

A rotational piezoelectric energy harvester for efcient wind energy

harvesting
Jiantao Zhang , Zhou Fang, Chang Shu, Jia Zhang, Quan Zhang, Chaodong Li
School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A rotational piezoelectric energy harvester for efciently harvesting wind energy is developed. The piezo-
Received 26 November 2016 electric (PVDF) beam generates electricity using the impact-induced vibration. An analytical model is
Received in revised form 6 May 2017 presented and simulated using nite element method. The transient responses of the piezoelectric beam
Accepted 17 May 2017
subjected to an impulse pressure are obtained. The relationship between rms output voltage and exci-
Available online 20 May 2017
tation frequency is analyzed. It is found the impact frequency is an important factor for the harvester
performance. When the impact frequency is beyond the critical one, the output power of the harvester
Keywords:
will decrease with increasing the wind speed. To improve the harvester performance, the methods for the
Piezoelectric
Wind energy harvesting adjustment of the vibration frequency of the PVDF beam are proposed. The harvester can effectively scav-
Impact-induced vibration enge the wind energy. A maximum rms voltage of 160.2 V and a maximum output power of 2566.4 W
Finite element analysis were obtained at the wind speed of 14 m/s in conguration 2.
2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction three distinct operation modes of piezoelectric energy harvester.

The recent technological advancement in wireless sensor and
microelectronic technologies have led to the development of low-
cost, low-power, multifunctional sensor nodes. These devices are
being powered by the batteries. However, the batteries have nite
storage capacities and need to be replaced periodically. In an
attempt to solve this problem, harvesting energy from the environ-
ment has been explored to supplement or even replace batteries.
The use of ambient energy, such as vibration, wind, sunlight, heat,
has evoked great interests [14]. In particular, wind energy is a
good source of electricity supply for its unique characteristics, such
as clean, environmentally preferable, affordable and inexhaustible.
Recently, many research works have been focused on the study of
converting the wind energy to electricity [59].
Li et al. demonstrated that a cross-ow stalk-leaf congura-
tion has better power generation performance, than a parallel-ow
stalk-leaf. This study showed that the self-induced vibration of the
trailing edge played the main role [10]. Zhao et al. proposed an
arc-shaped piezoelectric generator which is capable of harvesting
the energy from multi-directional winds [11]. Li et al. evaluated
Corresponding author.
Selected paper from the 13th International Workshop on Piezoelectric Materials
and Applications in Actuators & Energy Conversion Materials and Devices 2016,
21-24 August 2016, Jeju, Korea.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhangjt@shu.edu.cn (J. Zhang).
It was showed that the Mode I is the most effective one. They
attributed this result to large bending and torsion involved in this
operation mode [12]. Yang et al. proposed a rotational piezoelectric
wind energy harvester. The impact-induced resonance was used to
improve the output power of the harvester [13]. Xia et al. showed
that the resonance between the circuit and the piezoelectric ags
apping motion leads to a signicant increase in the harvested
energy [14]. Priya et al. demonstrated a piezoelectric windmill. The
12 piezoelectric bimorph transducers are utilized to harvest elec-
trical energy [15]. The challenge in designing such wind energy
harvesters is to improve the efciency of energy harvesting for a
wide range of wind speeds.
The rotational wind energy harvester has signicant poten-
tial for effective energy harvesting, for its piezoelectric beam can
produce a high bending deformation. In the aforementioned rota-
tion energy harvesters, the piezoelectric ceramics are used. The
piezoelectric ceramics have good voltage coefcient but are brittle,
fragile and hard. Therefore, the piezoelectric ceramic beam cannot
realize a large deformation and reductions of the energy harvesting
efciency are inevitable. In addition, the current research shows
that the output performance of the rotational energy harvester
increase with increasing the wind speed. Nevertheless, a different
conclusion is found.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2017.05.027
0924-4247/ 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
124 J. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 262 (2017) 123129
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the rotational piezoelectric energy harvester.
2. Structure of the piezoelectric energy harvester
Motivated by the need for high-power density energy har-
vesters, we develop a rotational piezoelectric energy harvester that
uses impact-induced vibration of a piezoelectric (PVDF) beam to
harvest the wind energy. The harvester shown in Fig. 1 consists of
three piezoelectric cantilever beams embedded in an outer case. In
order to improve the conversion efciency of energy harvesting, a
exible piezoelectric material (PVDF) is adopted as the energy har-
vesting element, which shows a large deformation response and a
wide range of vibration frequencies. A fan blade and a turntable are
mounted on opposite ends of the rotating shaft. The blade number
of the turntable is three. But it can be varied. The operation prin-
ciple of the harvester is simple. As air ows past the harvester, the
fan blade is caused to rotate and the turntable is driven through the
rotating shaft. At this time, the turntable strikes the piezoelectric
(PVDF) beam and causes the beam to undergo periodic oscillations.
Accordingly, an electric eld is produced.
The harvesters with different numbers of piezoelectric (PVDF)
beams are shown in Fig. 2. There is only one piezoelectric (PVDF)
beam in conguration 1, and there are three piezoelectric (PVDF)
beams in conguration 2. The beam can be mounted in various
positions on the outer case, as shown in Fig. 2 (a). is the mounting
angle of the beam relative to the default position. When the beam
is mounted in position 1, is equal to 0. If the beam is mounted in
position 2 ( is less than 0), its vibration amplitude is less. On the
contrary, if the beam is mounted in position 3 ( is bigger than 0),
its vibration amplitude is bigger.
The developed wind energy harvester can generate sufcient
energy and does not require the excitation frequency to be close
to the resonance frequency of the harvester. However, some har-
vesters give appreciable response amplitude and energy output
only if the dominant ambient vibration frequency is close to the
Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of two different operation modes: (a) conguration 1, (b) conguration 2.
Fig. 3. Structure of the piezoelectric beam.
resonance frequency of the harvester [1619]. On the other hand,
since the dimension of the turntable and the position of the piezo-
electric beam may be adjusted, large vibration amplitude of the
beam can be obtained. So the harvester can effectively generate
electricity.
3. Analytical model
The piezoelectric beam consists of a piezoelectric PVDF lm and
two protective coating, as shown in Fig. 3. One end of the beam is
xed while the other end is free. It is assumed that l1 , w1 , and t1 are
the length, the width, and the thickness of the protective coating
layer. l2 , w2 , and t2 are the length, the width, and the thickness of
the PVDF lm.
When the turntable strikes the piezoelectric (PVDF) beam caus-
ing it to deform, the mechanical strain generates charges in the
piezoelectric layers. The electromechanical coupling behavior can
be modeled as [20,21]
M u + C u + Ku = F + v (1)
C p v + u = Q (2)
where M is the mass matrix, C is the damping matrix, K is the stiff-
ness matrix, u is the nodal displacement vector, F is the excitation
force vector,  is the electromechanical coupling matrix, v is the
output voltage vector, Cp is the piezoelectric elements capacitance
matrix, Q is the output electrical charge vector.
 J. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 262 (2017) 123129 125

Table 1
Geometric and material parameters of the piezoelectric beam.

Parameter PVDF lm Protective coating

Mass density/kgm3 1780 920

Elastic modulus/GPa anisotropy 1.07
Poissons ratio 0.28 0.44
Length width thickness/mm3 30 12.5 0.02 41.5 16.3 0.2

The electrical displacement of the piezoelectric element can be

expressed as

1

2
D1 0 0 0 0 d15 0

3
D2 = 0 0 0 d15 0 0 (3)
4
0
D3 d31 d31 d33 0 0
5
6

where d31 , d33 , d15 are piezoelectric constants,  1 ,  2 ,  3 are the

normal stresses along the x, y, z axis,  4 ,  5 ,  6 are the shear stresses.
The vibrations of the piezoelectric beam exist mainly along the z
axis. Therefore, the piezoelectric material is assumed to experience
only a one-dimensional state of stress along the x axis. Then, Eq. (3)
can be written as

D1 = d31 1 (4)

According to Gausss law, the electric charge of the piezoelectric

element can calculated as follows

Qe = D1 da (5)
s

where da is a differential area on the element domain s. Fig. 4. Simulation results: (a) deection of the free end of the PVDF lm. (b) output
voltage of the PVDF lm.
4. Simulation analysis

An analytical solution for transient response of the piezoelec-

tric (PVDF) beam under mechanical impulse loads can be studied
by using Finite Element (FE) procedure. To simplify the ana-
lyzed model, two protective coating are merged into one. The
material of the protective coating is polyethylene. The material
and structural parameters of the piezoelectric beam are given in
Table 1.
The implemented matrices of the material properties of the
PVDF piezoelectric material can be written as follows:

0 0 0.0105
0 0 0.0105

0 0 0.065
e=
0
C/m2
(6)
0.0388 0
0.0388 0 0
0 0 0
Fig. 5. Rms output voltage versus excitation frequency from 65 Hz to 125 Hz.
11 0 0
S = 0 11 0 10 11
F /m (7)
0 0 11 where e is piezoelectric coefcient matrix, S is dielectric constant
matrix, and cE is stiffness matrix.
8.1 4.84 4.84 0 0 0 The turntable strikes the piezoelectric (PVDF) beam and causes
6.92 4.38 0 0 0 the beam to undergo periodic oscillations. It is assumed that an

6.92 0 0 0 impulse pressure is applied at the surface of the protective coating
c =
E

109 Pa (8)
1.38 0 0

layer. The voltages of the nodes on the top surface of the PVDF lm
1.38 0
are coupled. The coupling voltages are extracted.
The transient response results at an excitation frequency of
1.38 75 Hz are shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 4(a) shows deection history of the
126 J. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 262 (2017) 123129

Fig. 6. Photo of the experimental setup.

6m/s 10m/s 14m/s

40
20
Open -Circui t

0
Voltage(V)

-20
-40
-60
-80
-100
Time(0.05s-interval)
Configuration 1
6m/s 10m/s 14m/s
300
200
Open -Circui t
Voltage(V)

100
0
-100
-200
-300
Time(0.05s-interval)
Configuration 2

Fig. 7. Output voltages of two modes at various wind speeds: (a) conguration 1, (b) conguration 2.

free end of the PVDF lm. The maximum vibration amplitude of the
free end is about 20 mm. The open circuit voltage generated by the
piezoelectric lm is shown in Fig. 4(b). The output peak-to-peak
voltage is nearly 40 Vpp .
In addition, the transient responses with excitation frequency
from 65 Hz to 125 Hz are simulated. The root-mean-square (rms) of
output voltage is calculated. Fig. 5 shows rms output voltage versus
excitation frequency from 65 Hz to 125 Hz. The rms output voltage
rstly increases and then decreases with the excitation frequency.
The maximum output voltage is about 29 V at excitation frequency
of 95 Hz.
5. Experiment results
The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 6. The PVDF lm was
provided by Measurement Specialties in USA. The wind speed in the
wind tunnel was measured by a digital anemometer (TASI-8818,
Tasi Electronic, Inc., Suzhou, JS, China). The generated voltage signal
was collected by a digital storage oscilloscope (TBS 1102, Tektronix,
Beaverton, Oregon, USA). The root-mean-square of voltage Vrms
was measured over a period of approximately 5 s through the 10
probe (10 M). The average output power Po was calculated using
the following formula [10]:
Po = (Vrms )2 /R
When the beam is mounted in position 1 ( is equal to 0), the
open circuit voltage signals at various wind speeds for two congu-
rations were recorded and plotted in Fig. 7. The three piezoelectric
(PVDF) beams of the conguration 2 are connected in parallel in
the experiment. The measured results can characterize the electri-
cal outputs of the harvester under wind excitations with various
speeds. In conguration 1, periodic vibration is the main oscillat-
ing pattern of the piezoelectric beam at low wind speeds, and both
the vibration amplitude and frequency increase with increasing the
wind speed from 6 to 10 m/s. The reason is that, the rotational speed
of the fan blade and the impact frequency of the turntable on the
piezoelectric beam increase with increasing wind speed. But the
vibration amplitude decreases at the wind speed of 14 m/s. In con-
guration 2, the oscillation of the piezoelectric beam is periodic
and regular. The vibration amplitude and frequency increases with
increasing the wind speed. It is found that the maximum peak-to-
peak output voltage is around 508 Vpp at the wind speed of 14 m/s.
In order to evaluate the energy harvesting capabilities of the har-
vesters, the rms voltage was measured as a function of wind speed
and the output power was calculated using Eq. (9). As shown in
Fig. 8(a) and Fig. 8(b), Vrms and the output power of the two cong-
urations rst increase and then decrease with increasing the wind
speed. Vrms peaks at 24 V and 160.2 V in conguration 1 and cong-
uration 2, respectively, with corresponding wind speeds of 10 m/s
(9) and 14 m/s. The maximum output powers in conguration 1 and
 J. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 262 (2017) 123129
Fig. 8. (a) rms voltage (Vrms ) as a function of the wind speed. (b) output power as a function of the wind speed.
conguration 2 are 57.4 W and 2566.4 W respectively. When the
wind speed exceeds a threshold value, Vrms and the output power
of the two congurations start to decrease with increasing the
wind speed. The reason is that, impact frequency of the turntable
increases while the wind speed increases. When impact frequency
reaches a threshold value, the piezoelectric beam cannot recover
to its initial shape before the next impact occurs. Accordingly, the
beam has a small vibration amplitude and cannot efciently har-
vest energy at high wind speed. This is the reason why the output
voltage decreases and becomes non-periodic response at 14 m/s in
conguration 1, as shown in Fig. 7(a). Furthermore, the experimen-
tal results of the conguration 1 as shown in Fig. 8 (a) conrm the
validity of the simulation analysis as shown in Fig. 5.
In order to further study the relationship between the energy
output and the wind speed, a Fourier transform (a spectrum anal-
ysis) is performed [12,22,23]. The frequency content of the output
voltages of two congurations at various wind speeds are shown
in Fig. 9. The dominant vibration frequency of the piezoelectric
beam can be obtained from Fig. 9. It can be seen that the dom-
inant vibration frequency of the beam increases with increasing
the wind speed. There exists a critical vibration frequency for two
congurations. The critical vibration frequencies in conguration 1
and conguration 2 are 95 Hz and 82 Hz respectively. If the vibra-
tion frequency is beyond the critical one, the output voltage and
the output power of the harvesters will begin to decrease as the
wind speed increases. On the contrary, if the vibration frequency
does not exceed the critical one, the output voltage and the output
power will increase with the wind speed.
127
To improve wind energy harvesting efciency in harvesters,
the methods for the adjustment of the vibration frequency are
described. The wind speed is different in various environments.
Different harvesters may be fabricated according to the range of
wind speeds. In a high wind speed situation, the fan blade and
the turntable rotate at a high speed. As a result, the vibration fre-
quency of the piezoelectric beam will increase and may be beyond
the critical vibration frequency. Hence, the vibration frequency of
the piezoelectric beam must be reduced in order to obtain a good
output. There are two methods used to reduce the vibration fre-
quency of the beam. The rst is to adjust the mounting angle of
the beam, as shown in Fig. 2(a). If the beam is mounted in position
3, the resistance to the motion of the turntable will be increased.
Then, rotational speed of the turntable and the vibration frequency
of the beam are decreased, even if the wind speed is high. But the
cut-in wind speed of the harvester (threshold wind speed required
to start the harvester) is raised. The second is to reduce the blade
number of the turntable. The impact frequency of the turntable on
the piezoelectric beam will be decreased with reducing the blade
number. Accordingly, the vibration frequency of the beam is dimin-
ished. Generally, the output power of the harvester should increase
with the wind speed as long as the vibration frequency of the beam
is not higher than the critical one. In a low wind speed situation,
if the beam is mounted in position 2, the resistance to the motion
of the turntable will be decreased and the cut-in wind speed of the
harvester will be reduced. We can adjust the mounting angle of the
beam and the blade number of the turntable according to the vari-
128 J. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 262 (2017) 123129

(a) Configuration 1 (b) Configuration 2

30 200
180
25 4 m/s 160 10m/s
20 140
120 65
15 100
80
10 60
5 21 40
20
0 0
30 200
180
25 7m/s 160 12m/s
20 76 140 74
V oltage A m p litu d e(V)

120
15 100
80
10 60
5 40
20
0 0
30 200
25 95 10m/s
180
160 82 14 m/s
20 140
120
15 100
80
10 60
5 40
20
0 0
30 200
180
25 13m/s 160 15 m/s
20 140
120
15 100 140
80
10 60
5
135 40
20
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250

Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 9. Frequency content of the output voltages of two modes at various wind speeds: (a) conguration 1, (b) conguration 2.

ation range of the environment wind speed so that the harvester
can efciently harvest wind energy.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, this study demonstrates a rotational piezoelectric
energy harvester. The fan blade and the turntable rotate with the
blowing wind. The turntable strikes the piezoelectric (PVDF) beam,
and the impact induces the beam to vibrate. Accordingly, the piezo-
electric element generates electricity. The number of piezoelectric
(PVDF) beam can be varied. An analytical model for analyzing the
piezoelectric (PVDF) beam is presented and simulated using nite
element method. The transient responses and the generated volt-
age of the piezoelectric beam subjected to an impulse pressure are
obtained. The relationship between rms output voltage and exci-
tation frequency is analyzed. To evaluate the energy harvesting
capabilities, the output performance of the two congurations was
measured. The harvester can effectively scavenge the wind energy.
A maximum rms voltage of 160.2 V and a maximum output power
of 2566.4 W were obtained at the wind speed of 14 m/s in con-
guration 2. In addition, it is found that if the impact frequency
(the dominant vibration frequency of the piezoelectric beam) is
beyond the critical one, the output power of the harvesters will
decrease as the wind speed increases. In order to improve the
harvesters performance, the methods for the adjustment of the
vibration frequency of the beam are proposed. In general, the devel-
oped harvester does not require the excitation frequency to be close
to the resonance frequency of the device. The large vibration ampli-
tude of the piezoelectric beam can be easily obtained by adjusting
the structural parameters. The increased power of the harvester
could be obtained in the future by developing the high efcient
exible piezoelectric materials such as PVDF-TrFE, ZnO and AlN
[24,25].
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51305248, No. 51577112, No. 51605271),
Shanghai Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 13ZR1416900),
and the Training Project for Young Teachers in Shanghai Colleges
and Universities (No. ZZSD13051).
 J. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 262 (2017) 123129
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Biographies
Jiantao Zhang is an associate researcher in the School of Mechatronic Engineering
and Automation of Shanghai University. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from
Hefei University of Technology, China, in 2002, 2005 and the Ph.D. degree from
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, in 2009. His research
interests include energy harvesting, piezoelectric transducers, actuators, and ultra-
sonic motors.
Zhou Fang was born in Anhui, China. He received the B.Sc. degree in mechanical
engineering and automation from Shanghai University, Shanghai, China, in 2015.
He is currently pursuing his M.Sc. degree in machinery manufacturing and automa-
tion at Shanghai University. His research interests include piezoelectric materials,
sensors, and wind energy harvester.
Chang Shu was born in Jiangxi, China. He received the B.Sc. degree in mechanical
engineering and automation from Shanghai University, Shanghai, China, in 2014. He
is currently pursuing his M.Sc. degree at Shanghai University. His research interest
is in piezoelectric energy harvesting.
Jia Zhang was born in Changsha, China. He received the B.Sc. degree in mechanical
design manufacturing and automation from Changsha University, Changsha, China,
in 2015. He is currently pursuing his M.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering at
Shanghai University. His research interest is in energy harvesting.
Quan Zhang received his PhD and B. Eng. from Nanjing University of Aeronautics
and Astronautics (NUAA), in 2014 and 2009, respectively. He is a lecturer in School of
Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University (SHU). His research
interests are mainly focused on vibration control of exible robot and piezoelectric
based precision driving system.
Chaodong Li is currently a professor and doctoral tutor in School of Mechatronic
Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University. He received a B.Eng. degree in
1982 from Anhui University of Technology and M.E degree in 1988 from University of
Science and Technology LiaoNing. In 1999, he received a Ph.D. degree from Nanjing
University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research interests include piezo-
electric and elastic wave theory and applications, linear micro-motor technology,
dynamics of structures, analysis and design of ultrasonics.