Energy harvester array using piezoelectric circular diaphragm for rail vibration

Generating electric energy from mechanical vibration using a piezoelectric circular membrane array is presented in this paper. The electrical characteristics of the functional array consisted of three plates with varies tip masses are examined under dynamic conditions. With an optimal load resistor of 11 k Omega, an output power of 21.4 mW was generated from the array in parallel connection at 150 Hz under a pre-stress of 0.8 N and a vibration acceleration of 9.8 m/s(2). Moreover, the broadband energy harvesting using this array still can be realized with different tip masses. Three obvious output power peaks can be obtained in a frequency spectra of 110 Hz to 260 Hz. The results show that using a piezoelectric circular diaphragm array can increase significantly the output of energy compared with the use of a single plate. And by optimizing combination of tip masses with piezoelectric elements in array, the frequency range can be tuned to meet the broadband vibration. This array may possibly be exploited to design the energy harvesting for practical applications such as future high speed rail.