Fabrication and performance of Tile transducers for piezoelectric energy harvesting

In recent years, pavement piezoelectric energy harvesting has become one of the most promising road energy harvesting system clean energy sources. However, it is difficult for existing piezoelectric transducer structures to meet road power generation requirements. In this study, ceramic grinding and polishing techniques were used to make curved piezoelectric ceramic units with controllable curvatures. A new type of Tile transducer for roadway applications was developed in combination with an elastic metal base. Under the action of traffic load, the Tile transducer was subject to both vertical stress and a horizontal tearing force. Laboratory tests were performed on Tile transducers with simply supported and fixed boundary conditions, and the effects of concentrated and uniformly distributed loads on energy harvesting efficiency were analyzed. When the excitation frequency was 6 Hz and the load was 0.7 MPa, the output power of the Plane transducer was 0.23 mW, while that of the Tile transducer was 24.5 times as large at 5.65 mW. The ultimate compressive yield strength of a single Tile transducer could reach 2.18 kN, and the load limit was 1.5 kN at an excitation frequency of 10 Hz. This meets traffic load requirements. The open circuit voltage peak did not decrease substantially when 360 000 cyclic loading processes were performed. This indicated that Tile transducer structural performance was stable and that the transducer was durable. Based on the test results, an effective Tile transducer packaging method is proposed for application in road power generation systems.