Evaluating Energy Generation Capacity of PVDF Sensors: Effects of Sensor Geometry and Loading

This paper focuses on the energy generating capacity of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric material through a number of prototype sensors with different geometric and loading characteristics. The effect of sensor configuration, surface area, dielectric thickness, aspect ratio, loading frequency and strain on electrical power output was investigated systematically. Results showed that parallel bimorph sensor was found to be the best energy harvester, with measured capacitance being reasonably acceptable. Power output increased with the increase of sensor’s surface area, loading frequency, and mechanical strain, but decreased with the increase of the sensor thickness. For all scenarios, sensors under flicking loading exhibited higher power output than that under bending. A widely used energy harvesting circuit had been utilized successfully to convert the AC signal to DC, but at the sacrifice of some losses in power output. This study provided a useful insight and experimental validation into the optimization process for an energy harvester based on human movement for future development.