Energy Harvesting

Devices
Wen-Jong Wu
Department of Engineering Science and Ocean Engineering
National Taiwan University
Tel: +886-2-33665764
E-mail : wjwu@ntu.edu.tw

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MEMS Generator
Digitate
Electrode
PZT
Fixed Supporting Membrane
End

Proof
Si Mass
Si

Proof
Mass

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MEMS Generator Impedance Characteristics

• Annealing: 650°C / 120 minutes

• Poling:
¾ poled under 200V @ 150 °C
¾ 60 minutes

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 NSC-CNRS International Joint Project
• French side (CNRS) - PI: François COSTA, SATIE Lab
Title: Micro-générateurs pour bio-micro-systèmes, basés
sur la récupération de l’énergie acoustique grâce à des
couches de PZT déposées sur des membranes ou des
poutres en silicium.
• Taiwan side(NSC)-PI: Wen-Jong Wu,Co-PI: P.Z. Chang
Title: Micro Generator of Power Harvesting by Vibrations
using Innovative PZT Deposition Process

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 Aerosol Jet Sprayed PZT Deposition Chamber
¾ Using PZT powder in diameter small
than 0.5 μm.
¾ Pressure difference between the
destination room and powder room：
150mmHg ~ 400mmHg
¾ The deposition rate is 0.1 μm/min on a
50x70 mm2 area.
¾ Could be deposited on Si, SiO2, SU-8,
glass, polyimide, ITO, Cu, Pt, Au, and
Al , etc.
¾ The process is conducted in room
temperature.
¾ Annealed in 550~650°C furnance after
the jet sprayed process.
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Material Property
XRD PE curve

Dielectric constant Dielectric loss

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A 15um*800um*650um PZT Released Structure
A freestanding PZT membrane without supporting.
Si
(residual glue) (a)KOH backside wet etch
PZT

(b)Deposit bottom electrode

PZT KMPR

(c)Pattern PZT thick film by lift-off.

(d)Deposit Top electrode

AIR
The minimum linewidth of 10 μm thickness PZT (e)Suspend the transformer structure and annealing
structure is 30 μm in our work.

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ANSYS Simulation Mode Shapes
3.79 MHz

370 -74.00
350

Impedence (Ohm)^-1
-75.00
2.80 MHz 330

Degree ( o )
310 -76.00 Impedence
290 Phase
-77.00
270
-78.00
250
230 -79.00
2500000 2700000 2900000 3100000 3300000 3500000 3700000 3900000
3.82 MHz
Frequency (Hz)
3.50 MHz 3.72 MHz

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 Micro Piezoelectric Devices Design and Fabrication Flow
Micro Piezo Devices
¾ The cantilever structure verify that the material
properties of jet spray deposited PZT is closed
bulk PZT material, and thus the behavior can be Device Design
precisely simulated and predicted by ANSYS.
¾ The design and fabrication flow of micro Post
piezoelectric devices are as the right figure. Process
¾ Application for now: Micro power harvesting Design
device and micro piezoelectric transformer, and
many other devices can be tried in the future
Annealing
Test

Fabrication

Cantilever Transformer Testing

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Energy Harvesting from Ambient Random Vibrations
• It is an utmost goal to power wireless sensor nodes from energy
scavenged from the ambient environment.
• The energy harvesting from ambient vibration with piezoelectric cantilever
beam structure has been proven to be one of the best approach to
scavenge energy from ambient vibrations due to the high energy density
nature of piezoelectric materials.
• The state of the art vibration energy harvesting devices can generate
power in milliwatts level.

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Theoretical Analysis
• The mechanical and electrical behavior around the 1st resonant
frequency in bending direction which power harvesting devices
usually adopted can be expressed in equivalent circuit model.
– The transformer in the circuit model denotes a mechanical to electrical energy
transformation.
– The voltage source E1 denotes a external force
– The RmLmCm in mechanical branch denotes equivalent circuit parameters in the
mechanical oscillation.
– The C0 in the electrical side denotes the static capacitance of parallel electrode plates
which is shunted with the external electrical load.
Figure 2: Equivalent circuit Modal
Mechanical Branch
Figure 1: Beading at 1st Mode
Rm Lm Cm
Free
Fixed
E1

LOAD
C0

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 Experiment architecture
• CC1010
– RF transceiver/ 8051 compatible microcontroller
– 2 UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter)
– 3 channel 10Bit ADC
– Programmable transmission power
-20dBm to 10dBm for different transmission range
Antenna

14.7MHz crystal

Connectors
reserved
for sensor
Tunable capacitor

32KHz crystal

Power connector Chipcon CC1010

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Experimental Setup
• The experimental setup is composed of a piezoelectric cantilever beam
clamped at one end fixed on a vibrating shaker.
• The piezoelectric cantilever beam used here is bimorph type.
– The upper panel was used in the frequency tuning purpose.
– The lower piezoelectric panel on the beam is then used to harvest energy.
Choosing Different Load
Microprocessor of the Sensor Netwoks

Fixed Support End

Function Generator Bimorph Piezoelectric

Cantilever Beam

Harvesting Energy Device

Power Amplifier Vibration Shaker

Power Harvesting Device Experimental Setup

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Results of Network Analysis
• The two extreme conditions short circuit and open circuit conditions, the
resonant frequencies are 91.5Hz and 94.5Hz respectively.
• The 3Hz range is the tunable bandwidth on this system.
– Resonant frequency of the system can be changing in this range by
switching in different capacitive loads.
Networks Signal Analysis
42
Sh o r t C ir cu it

40 Usin g T u n ab le Fr eq u en cy Sy stem
Op er C ir cu it
38
Gain(dB)

36

34

32

30
80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115
Frequency(Hz)

Networks analysis result

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Results of Random Frequency Excitation
• The device excited under random frequency from 80Hz to 115Hz.
– The average harvesting output power is about 1.53mW with the tuning resonant
frequency system turned off and 1.95mW with the resonant frequency tuning system
turned on.
– The average harvesting output power increases about 27.4% with the real-time
resonant frequency tuning system under random excitation.
Random frequency from 80Hz to 115Hz 27.4%+
4 1.95mW
3.5 1.53mW
3

2.5
Voltage(V)

1.5 No tunable frequency system

1
With tunable frequency system

0.5

0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
Time(s)

Random frequency excitation from 80Hz to 115Hz

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Innovative P.T.-based Inverter
PFC Output Different types
400V Piezoelectric Transformer

Self-Filtering
Modal Electrode

Driving
Circuit
Piezo-Transformer
Rigid Support

Phase Control
Effieciency:90% !!
Constant Current Control

Control Circuit

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Using P. T. PZT-M-53-2 to light 680mm CCFL
Input voltage Output voltage Output voltage Input voltage

• Square wave input

Sine wave output
• Modal self-filtering effect

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 Thank You!!

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