Multiphysics Simulation of Piezoelectric Cantilever Beam: Application in Automobile

Alex Mouapi1, Gaelle Vanessa Kamani2, Nadir Hakem1, and Nahi Kandil1

1. Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), Laboratoire de Recherche Télébec en Communications Souterraines

(LRTCS), Val-d’Or, Québec, Canada

2. Network and Computer System Security/ Engineering, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, United Kingdom

Abstract: This paper present a modeling and simulation of piezoelectric microgenerator applied in the automobile. The overall system (piezoelectric transducer and energy harvesting circuit) is designed with Simscape tool of Matlab/Simulink software, which allows a multiphysics modeling. The software drives the electromechanical behavior of the transducer which, overcomes the establishment of an equivalent circuit model. The micro-generator sizing is based on real vibration data detected in the automobile. The piezo stack component is used to evaluate the output performances of the piezoelectric transducer. Simulated results are validated experimentally by using the QuickPack actuators parameters. The maximum power delivered by the transducer is then used to evaluate the performance of a sensor node in a star topology network. The results show that the sensor node can sense and transmit data with a maximum size of 451 bits when measurements must be taken every 15 minutes. The model is then used to assess the contribution of the nonlinear treatment of the piezoelectric voltage called Synchronized Switch Harvesting on Inductor (SSHI). Specifically, an improvement of the recovered power of 18.9% is achieved by applying the SSHI technique; allowing an improvement in the size of the data by 13.3%. The proposed simulation technique can be used for the design of such micro-generators.

Key words: QuickPack actuators, multiphysics modeling, piezo stack, sims cape tool, star topology network, SSHI