Modelling and analysis of a novel E-shape piezoelectric vibration energy harvester with dynamic magnifier

An important issue in conventional harvesters is that the output performance is limited to small strains and narrow bandwidth. To address these issues, a novel E-shape harvester with dynamic magnifier is devised to magnify the base vibration and enhance electric energy in low-frequency complicated environment. In this study, a novel electromechanical coupling dynamic model is established by considering the characteristics of the E-shape structure. Meanwhile, the analytical expressions of the eigenfunction and resonance frequency of the developed model are presented. The effect of system parameters on the power output are investigated and discussed. Results indicate that the electric energy can be significantly enhanced and the vibration amplitude can be magnified using properly design structural parameters. The proposed harvester with dynamic magnifier is a simple and effective approach for enhancing energy harvesting near a target operating frequency.