title: Toward energy harvesting using active materials and conversion improvement by nonlinear processing.
abstract: This paper presents a new technique of electrical energy generation using mechanically excited piezoelectric materials and a nonlinear process. This technique, called synchronized switch harvesting (SSH), is derived from the synchronized switch damping (SSD), which is a nonlinear technique previously developed to address the problem of vibration damping on mechanical structures. This technique results in a significant increase of the electromechanical conversion capability of piezoelectric materials. Comparatively with standard technique, the electrical harvested power may be increased above 900%. The performance of the nonlinear processing is demonstrated on structures excited at their resonance frequency as well as out of resonance.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génie Electrique et Ferroélectricité, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, 69621 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guyomar
authors.forename: Adrien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Badel
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lefeuvre
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Richard