Shunted optimal vibration energy harvesting control of discontinuous smart beams

Abstract

This paper presents an adaptive dynamic analysis of discontinuous smart beam energy harvester systems using a shunt vibration control. The smart structural systems, connected with the shunt and harvesting circuit interfaces, consist of the three types of non-homogeneous structural combinations with different piezoelectric materials. The constitutive coupled dynamic equations with full variational parameters are reduced using the charge type-based Hamiltonian mechanics and the Ritz method-based weak-form analytical approach. Unlike the conventional techniques, this study elaborates the appearance of the two resonances with a wider shift on a specific range of the optimal power output frequencies, using only the first mode of the smart structural systems. Moreover, the two-equal peak of the optimal response may potentially occur to appear not only at the first resonance, but also at the second resonance. This intrinsically represents strong electromechanical effect, depending on the properties and thicknesses of piezoelectric materials and the circuit parameters. The accuracy of the theoretical method is tested using the iterative computational process of the optimal frequency response with full coupled electromechanical system parameters. Further details of the parametric studies are discussed to show the prediction of the energy harvesting with the ability of tuning an adaptive frequency response.