An optimization study on (Ba0.85Ca0.15) (Zr0.1Ti0.9)O-3-based piezoelectric energy-harvester using finite element method

Abstract

Performance of (Ba0.85Ca0.15) (Zr0.1Ti0.9)O-3 (BZT-BCT)-based energy harvester was simulated in d(33) mode using finite element method. For this purpose, ceramics sintered at different temperatures were utilized for the simulations of electrical power output. Elastic and piezoelectric properties of ceramics sintered at three different temperatures of 1450 degrees C, 1500 degrees C, and 1550 degrees C were used to simulate the raw AC power output. Electric powers harvested from BZT-BCT ceramic sintered at these temperatures are 1.98mW, 0.68mW, and 0.11mW, respectively. This study also presents an optimized approach to extract maximum energy generated from a vibrating piezoelectric ceramic source. The rectifier operates on optimal condition achieving maximum power points. A dc-dc buck converter was utilized to effectively transfer the power to the load by controlling the duty cycle of the converter achieving maximum current. Simulation results reveal that the adopted circuit is able to transfer 10 times more power than a normal rectifier circuit for an output voltage of 3 V.