Investigation upon the performance of piezoelectric energy harvester with elastic extensions

•Elastic extensions are proposed to tune the performance of piezoelectric energy harvesters.•Dynamic model for the proposed device is established considering the extension properties.•Simulations are done to elucidate the influence of structure parameters upon performances. Piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters have attracted much attention due to its potential to replace currently popular batteries and to provide an sustainable power sources. Many researchers have proposed ways to increase the performance of piezoelectric energy harvesters like bandwidth, working frequency and output performance. Here in this contribution, we propose the method of using elastic extensions to tune the performance of a piezoelectric energy harvester. Mathematical model of the proposed device is derived and analyzed. Numerical simulations are done to investigate the influences of the derived parameters, like length ratio λl, bending stiffness ratio λB, and line density ratio λm. Results show that the elastic extension does change the motion of the proposed device and help tune the performance of piezoelectric energy harvesters.