SBIR Phase I: High Performance Vibration Energy Harvester

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段的研究项目是开发，制造和表征一种新型的具有成本效益的高性能振动能量采集器。由于压电弯曲器的低能量输出、高振动频率要求和窄频带宽度，压电弯曲器用于振动能量采集器的使用受到限制。这些能量采集器的几种配置将被制造，预计将提供高达1.45倍的电压和高达9.6倍的电流输出能力比传统的单片和复合能量采集器。此外，这些新型收割机的谐振频率最高可降低5倍，带宽最高可扩展10倍。拟议的收割机预计将满足无处不在的运输和工业传感器网络以及移动的电子设备的供电要求，无需电池充电，更换和处置。对于无线传感器网络，所提出的能量采集器将消除来自主电源、数据电缆和电力电缆安装和维护的功耗，以及电池成本、更换和处置。此外，传感器数据可用于促进交通基础设施、发电结构以及空中、水上和地面交通工具的结构健康监测和基于状态的维护，这可通过避免灾难性故障、消除不必要的定期维护和降低维护成本而节省数十亿美元。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I research project is to develop, fabricate, and characterize a new type of cost effective high performance vibration energy harvester. The use of piezoelectric benders for vibration energy harvesters has been limited due to their low energy output, high vibrational frequency requirement, and narrow frequency bandwidth. Several configurations of these energy harvesters will be fabricated that are predicted to offer up to 1.45 times higher voltage and up to 9.6 times higher current output capability over conventional monolithic and composite energy harvesters. In addition, these new harvesters offer up to 5 times lower resonance frequency and up to 10 times wider bandwidth. The proposed harvesters are projected to satisfy the powering requirements for ubiquitously deployed transportation and industrial sensor networks and mobile electronics, eliminating the need for battery recharging, replacement, and disposal. For wireless sensor networks, the proposed energy harvester will eliminate power consumption from the mains power, data cable and power cable installation and maintenance, and battery cost, replacement, and disposal. In addition, sensor data can be used to facilitate structural health monitoring and condition based maintenance of transportation infrastructure, power generation structures, and air, water, and ground transportation vehicles, which can result in multi-billion dollar savings by avoiding catastrophic failures, eliminating unnecessary scheduled maintenance, and reducing maintenance costs.