Regular and chaotic vibration in a piezoelectric energy harvester

Litak, G., Friswell, M. I. and Adhikari, S. (2016) Regular and chaotic vibration in a piezoelectric energy harvester. Meccanica, 51(5), pp. 1017-1025. (doi: 10.1007/s11012-015-0287-9)

Abstract

We examine regular and chaotic responses of a vibrational energy harvester composed of a vertical beam and a tip mass. The beam is excited horizontally by a harmonic inertial force while mechanical vibrational energy is converted to electrical power through a piezoelectric patch. The mechanical resonator can be described by single or double well potentials depending on the gravity force from the tip mass. By changing the tip mass we examine bifurcations from single well oscillations, to regular and chaotic vibrations between the potential wells. The appearance of chaotic responses in the energy harvesting system is illustrated by the bifurcation diagram, the corresponding Fourier spectra, the phase portraits, and is confirmed by the 0–1 test. The appearance of chaotic vibrations reduces the level of harvested energy.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Adhikari, Professor Sondipon
• Authors: Litak, G., Friswell, M. I., and Adhikari, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Infrastructure and Environment
• Journal Name: Meccanica
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0025-6455
• ISSN (Online): 1572-9648
• Published Online: 15 September 2015
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Meccanica 51(5): 1017-1025
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License