title: Vibration energy harvesting using piezoelectric unimorph cantilevers with unequal piezoelectric and nonpiezoelectric lengths.
abstract: We have examined a piezoelectric unimorph cantilever (PUC) with unequal piezoelectric and nonpiezoelectric lengths for vibration energy harvesting theoretically by extending the analysis of a PUC with equal piezoelectric and nonpiezoelectric lengths. The theoretical approach was validated by experiments. A case study showed that for a fixed vibration frequency, the maximum open-circuit induced voltage which was important for charge storage for later use occurred with a PUC that had a nonpiezoelectric-to-piezoelectric length ratio greater than unity, whereas the maximum power when the PUC was connected to a resistor for immediate power consumption occurred at a unity nonpiezoelectric-to-piezoelectric length ratio.
authors.forename: Xiaotong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Wei-Heng
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Wan Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Shih