On the Design of a Thermo-Magnetically Activated Piezoelectric Micro-Energy Generator: Working Principle

Abstract

This paper deals with a new design of a thermo-magnetically activated piezoelectric generator. This proposed generator exploits the temperature-dependent magnetization of a ferromagnetic material, which is exposed to temporary change of temperature cycles. To promote a better understanding of the operation of this mechanism, a global coupled numerical model is presented, which is able to predict the static and dynamic behavior of the generator. It is shown that with some modifications to the physical design, the generator can be tuned for different activation temperatures. Energy densities of 280 and 67 µJcm−3 were achieved by the proposed model of the generator for its opening and closing commutation, respectively.

Keywords

• thermo-magnetization
• piezoelectricity
• time-varying temperature
• miniaturization
• energy harvesting