Analytical solution and energy harvesting from nonlinear vibration of an asymmetric bimorph piezoelectric plate and optimizing the plate parameters by genetic algorithm

In this article, harvesting of electrical power from nonlinear vibration of an asymmetric bimorph piezoelectric plate is presented based on the classical plate theory with von Kármán strain–displacement nonlinear relations in the presence of temperature change effect. Two piezoelectric layers with different thicknesses cover top and bottom layers of a substructure. The structure has been excited under harmonic transverse forces in case of primary resonance. Two coupled ordinary differential equations for displacement and voltage have been derived and solved via multiple time scales method. The voltage equation has been defined by electric displacement and Gauss’s law. Analytic relations for voltage and harvested electrical power have been derived. The analytic relation for power is based on different parameters of the plate such as thicknesses of the layers, dimensions of plate, load resistance, frequency of harmonic excitation, and mechanical properties of structure. The parameters are optimized using genetic algorithm method with consideration of power relation as cost function. To harvest the maximum energy from the plate, the thicknesses of two piezoelectric layers, load resistance, and detuning parameter have been optimized. To illustrate the effectiveness of the optimization, results are depicted in three different simulations.