Motion energy harvesting and storage system including printed piezoelectric film and supercapacitor

Abstract

We report the study of piezoelectric transducer based on the copolymer P(VDF:TrFE) for energy harvesting based on deformation of the film. The bending characteristics, sensitivity, charge generation and frequency response at typical machine component frequencies of printed piezoelectric transducer was studied. Interestingly piezoelectric transducer shows response towards a different level of frequency and the bending forces. As expected, increased frequency and deformation yield increased energy harvesting. A harvester system integrated on flexible foil and comprising a printed piezoelectric element, integrated rectifier and printed supercapacitor was demonstrated, which harvests sufficient energy for low power measurements or radio transmission.