Effects of coupling in piezoelectric multi-beam structure.

MEMS-based piezoelectric energy harvesters utilize the principle of piezoelectricity for harvesting energy from the ambient vibrations of the environment. These energy harvesters are popular because of their small size. Most of these energy harvesters are constructed using a cantilever beam or plate structure comprising of single or multiple beam or plates. This paper presents the idea of coupling effect present in the piezoelectric multiple-plate cantilever structures. In these multi-plate structures, the fixed ends of plates are connected by a metal layer. We observe that the vibrations of one plate tend to affect the vibrations and output of the neighboring plate. In this paper, we present a qualitative explanation of this coupling effect among the neighboring plates in terms of their electrical and mechanical interaction. Then we present a Finite Element Method Analysis of these multi-plate cantilever structures on COMSOL Multiphysics platform to verify our proposed hypothesis of coupling effect occurring in these structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]