Design and Simulation Study of a Piezoelectric Microcantilever-Based Energy Harvester for Ambient Vibrations

Design and simulation of micro energy harvester using MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) technology are presented. It is used to produce energy from ambient vibration to drive a low power microsensor. The design of a multilayered (Ti/PZT/Ti/SiO2 /Si) microcantilever is carried out using the PiezoMUMPs (the multi-user MEMS Process for piezoelectric devices) process. A standard microcantilever with a proof mass is used in the study. The natural frequency of the microcantilever is tuned for a low frequency (~126 Hz) at which gives a higher response. The tuned resonance frequency of the microcantilever needs to match with a source frequency to get enhanced energy efficiency. Hence, the design simulation of micro energy harvester is presented under applied 1 g magnitude acceleration. The maximum power transfer of the current design is observed 2.5 µW for the 100 kΩ resistive load.