Hysteresis characteristics influence on the super-harmonic vibration of a bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester

Abstract

The smart structures with the harmonic nonlinear vibration are used widely to broaden the frequency range of vibrations energy harvesting. However, it is presently considered that the smart materials have some hysteresis properties. These hysteresis properties have much negative influence on the harvested energy not to be supplied more quickly and more accurately to the micro-systems applications. In the paper, the super-harmonic vibration of a piezoelectric energy harvester is discussed with considering the hysteresis phenomenon, and the piezoelectric energy harvester is described by the Bouc–Wen equation. Moreover, it is observed that there is a stronger hysteresis property when the piezoelectric energy harvester is applied with an external excitation at the harmonic frequency. It is analyzed that the hysteresis will bring about a delay of the harmonic vibration frequency of the energy harvester compared with that without considering hysteresis. Furthermore, it is concluded that the hysteresis decreasingly impacts the super-harmonic vibration of the bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester when the external excitation is gradually increasing.