An impacting energy harvester through piezoelectric device for oscillating water flow

Abstract

The reduced power requirements of miniaturized electronics offers the opportunity to create devices having their power supply based on energy harvesters. In this paper a new idea is proposed and studied to supply underwater low-consumption devices using low-cost disk piezoelectric elements. The system scavenges energy from water motion induced in depth by surface gravity waves using piezoelectric materials and the characteristic oscillating movement of bodies with positive buoyancy that are attached to the seabed with flexible cords, similar to an inverted pendulum. The piezoelectric components that are subjected to impacts produced by the movement of the pendulum create an electrical power generator that harvests the mechanical energy brought by the sea movements. A prototype with the proposed electronic harvesting system is built and tested. The average power output of the prototype is 2.2 ± 0.3 µW, which can be increased signi¿cantly with further optimization.