Piezoelectric materials can be used as a means of transforming ambient vibrations into electrical energy that can be stored and used to power other devices. With the recent surge of micro scale devices, piezoelectric power generation can provide a convenient alternative to traditional power sources used to operate certain types of sensors/actuators, telemetry, and MEMS devices. However, the ene...

This study focuses on the numerical analysis of a high efficiency Energy Harvesting device, based on piezoelectric materials, for the sustainability of smart buildings, structures and infrastructures. Before that, a comprehensive literature review on the topic takes place. The device consists in an aerodynamic fin attached to a piezoelectric element that makes use of the air flow to harvest ene...

Piezoelectric sensors are widely used in accelerometers, for detecting failures in structures, and for vibration suppression systems among others. Such sensors can be manufactured in many different sizes, and packages to work in a variety of environments. The main characteristic of the piezoelectric material that allows for this effect is the conversion of mechanical to electrical energy. That ...

Piezoelectric transducer (SAW devices) is a very important device in industry but it is very difficult to simulate it using any circuit-simulation program. This paper proposes a practical method to simulate the Mason’s model of piezoelectric transducer directly with no approximation for different values of the model’s components using PSPICE. The paper also improves the simulated circuit compon...

In this paper, we present a new approach to the fabrication of integrated silicon-based piezoelectric diaphragm-type biosensors by using sodium potassium niobate-silver niobate (0.82KNN-0.18AN) composite lead-free thin film as the piezoelectric layer. The piezoelectric diaphragms were designed and fabricated by micro-machining technology and chemical solution deposition. The fabricated device w...

This paper investigates the seismic response control of a nonlinear benchmark building with a new re-centering variable friction device (RVFD). The RVFD consists of three parts: (i) a friction generation unit, (ii) a piezoelectric actuator, and (iii) shape memory alloy wires. The friction unit and piezoelectric actuator compose the first subcomponent of the hybrid device that is a variable fric...

The output of a piezoelectric nanogenerator based on ZnO nanowire is largely affected by the shape of nanowire. In order to obtain mechanically stable nanogenerator with high performance, the investigation of mechanical and electrical characteristics related to the nanowires and materials used in nanogenerators are of great interest and significance. This paper presents the various behavior of ...

In this study, we report a fully described modeling and simulation of a piezoelectric layered structure for surface acoustic wave (SAW) applications. SAW propagation characteristics were numerically investigated in ZnO/IDT/128° YX LiNbO3. The numerical analysis was conducted using Finite Element Method (FEM) in COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b platform. The numerical results show that the electromechan...

Vibration energy harvesting is being pursued as a means to power wireless sensors and ultra-low power autonomous devices. From a design standpoint, matching the electrical damping induced by the energy harvesting mechanism to the mechanical damping in the system is necessary for maximum efficiency. In this work two independent energy harvesting techniques are coupled to provide higher electrica...

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t A shunted piezoelectric is a device to suppress vibration consisting of a piezoelectric material and a shunt circuit connecting between two electrodes of the piezoelectric material. The sensitivity of damping performances is analyzed for passive shunted piezoelectrics: a resistive, a series resonant, and a parallel resonant shunted piezoelectric. The parame...