A Distributed Parameter Electromechanical Model for Cantilevered Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

Cantilevered beams with piezoceramic layers have been frequently used as piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters in the past five years. The literature includes several single degree-of-freedom models, a few approximate distributed parameter models and even some incorrect approaches for predicting the electromechanical behavior of these harvesters. In this paper, we present the exact analytical solution of a cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvester with Euler–Bernoulli beam assumptions. The excitation of the harvester is assumed to be due to its base motion in the form of translation in the transverse direction with small rotation, and it is not restricted to be harmonic in time. The resulting expressions…