Energy harvesting by dynamic unstability and internal resonance for piezoelectric beam

We investigated the energy harvesting of a vertical beam with tip mass under vertical excitations. We applied dynamic unstability and internal resonance to improve the efficiency of harvesting. The experiments of harmonic excitation were carried out. Results show that for the beam there exist internal resonances in the dynamically unstable and the buckling bistable cases. The dynamic unstability is a determinant for strong internal resonance or mode coupling, which can be used to create a large output from piezoelectric patches. Then, the experiments of stochastic excitation were carried out. Results prove that the internal resonance or mode coupling can transfer the excitation energy to the low order modes, mainly the first and the second one. This can bring about a large output voltage. For a stochastic excitation, it is proved that there is an optimal weight of tip mass for realizing internal resonance and producing large outputs.