Research Summaries

Back Optimization of Piezoelectric Vibrational Energy Harvesting MEMS for Naval Applications

Fiscal Year 2013
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Physics
Investigator(s) Gregory, Sarah M.
Sponsor Space & Naval Warfare Systems Center-Pacific (Navy)
Summary Mechanical vibration is abundant in almost all motor driven equipment. In efforts to harvest the mechanical energy lost through vibration, this thesis aims to design and optimize a piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), providing the groundwork for a viable alternative energy source for many shipboard and expeditionary uses in the United States Navy.
The goal is to design and model piezoelectric MEMS devices specific to resonant frequencies of naval engineering equipment, using COMSOL Multiphysics software. When a satisfactory model is achieved, a prototype will be microfabricated and tested using acoustic vibrations at the specified resonant frequencies. Such devices could later be microfabricated into large arrays of individual MEMS structures combining the output powers of individual structures, making it fairly appreciable.
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Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal