A Novel Design and Performance Analysis of Piezoelectric Energy Harvester with Application to a Vehicle Suspension System Moving on Uniform Bridges

The development of energy recovery systems in vehicles is a form of synergy between energy efficiency and renewable energy to overcome the energy crisis and global warming problems.This paper addresses such challenges by introducing a novel design of a piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) for a vehicle suspension system.The PEH is designed to capture the linear vibration of the suspension system subjected to road surface roughness and move on uniform bridges.The vibration is amplified by a pressurized liquid cylinder-piston mechanism which deforms the piezoelectric bar to produce electric power.An additional novel mechanism in the form of a piezoelectric protector is also proposed to avoid physical damage due to excessive unidirectional compressive force as a result of an unpredictable uneven road.Given the key design parameters, the electric power can be harvested up to 67.5 W for a PEH with a span of 150 m of the bridge, a velocity of 40 m/s, and a vehicle mass of 2,691.6 kg.