Design of a multiresonant beam for broadband piezoelectric energy harvesting

This paper describes initial investigations into the behavior of a mechanical system for a proposed novel energy harvesting device. The device comprises a clamped–clamped beam piezoelectric fiber composite generator with side mounted cantilevers. These side mounted cantilevers are tuned by added masses to be resonant at different frequencies. A Rayleigh–Ritz model has been developed to predict the vibration response of the device and results from this model and from the real system are compared. The mechanical aspects of the device show a wide band energy harvesting characteristic in comparison to a single cantilever piezoelectric harvester.