Enhanced electromechanical coupling of piezoelectric beams through an innovative design

David Gibus (1) , Louison Tourtelier-Gallo (1) , Pierre Gasnier (2) , Adrien Morel (1) , Olivier Freychet (2) , Adrien Badel (1)

1 SYMME - Laboratoire SYstèmes et Matériaux pour la MEcatronique
2 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information

This work reports the finite element model simulations of an innovative design of piezoelectric cantilevers in order to maximize their global electromechanical coupling coefficient k². A strong electromechanical coupling coefficient is necessary for piezoelectric cantilever to improve their performances as vibration energy harvesters. Its value can be increased by minimizing the strain in the width direction of the beam. The purpose of the proposed design is to block the lateral deformations of the beam while allowing longitudinal deformations. This is implemented by placing several rigid bars on the piezoelectric patches in the width direction. Such a design is interesting when strong global electromechanical coupling coefficients are needed for resonant frequency tuning by electrical methods, or to increase the performance of lead-free materials that are still weakly coupled materials.

Mots clés: Piezoelectricity; cantilever; mechanical design; electromechanical coupling; vibration energy harvesting; finite element model simulations

Domaines: Mécanique [physics.med-ph]

David Gibus, Louison Tourtelier-Gallo, Pierre Gasnier, Adrien Morel, Olivier Freychet, et al.. Enhanced electromechanical coupling of piezoelectric beams through an innovative design. SMART 2023 - 10th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Smart Structures and Materials, Jul 2023, Patras, Greece. ⟨hal-04217777⟩