Output details

Fabrication and characterisation of free-standing thick-film piezoelectric cantilevers for energy harvesting

Significance of output:

This paper combines a theoretical analysis of free-standing piezoelectric energy harvester structures with the first practical demonstration of a novel fabrication method. Contains comparison of theory and laboratory performance. This advance enables devices to be manufactured using simple mass production techniques at low-cost (in small-to-medium volumes), compared to the commercial systems as, say, produced by Perpetuum Ltd. The cost advantage is particularly important for niche low volume applications such as power systems for train wagons. Consequently, the concepts have subsequently been adopted by researchers in Purdue University, USA and Tohoku University, Japan.