Abstract:
Accurate modeling and computer aided simulation is advantageous during the design stage of a piezoelectric energy harvesting system. In this paper, system-level finite element modeling (FEM) of a cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvester with a resistor is conducted using ANSYS. Considering that practical energy harvesting circuit includes nonlinear electrical elements, which is beyond the modeling capability of ANSYS, an equivalent circuit modeling (ECM) method is proposed to address the problem. After the parameters of equivalent circuit are identified, system-level simulation is conducted in SPICE software.