This paper studies the nonlinear dynamics and energy harvesting performance of a novel low-cost, magnet-free bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester inspired by the rapid shape transition of the Venus flytrap. The harvester is composed of a piezoelectric MFC transducer, a tip mass, and two sub-beams. The two sub-beams are akin to the double bidirectionally curved leaves of the Venus flytrap that could rapidly snap-through from the open state to the closed state. To achieve the bistability similar to the Venus flytrap leaves induced by the stored mechanical potential energy, an in-plane pre-displacement constraint is applied to the free ends of the sub-beams which leads to bending and twisting deformations and creates the potential energy in the harvester. The bio-inspired design is introduced in detail and a prototype is manually manufactured to demonstrate the conceptual design. The nonlinear dynamics of the bio-inspired bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester is investigated under sweeping frequency and harmonic excitations. Results show that the sub-beams of the harvester experience more complicated local vibrations including broadband high-frequency components as the snap-through phenomenon happens. The energy harvesting performance of the harvester is evaluated at different excitation levels within the frequency range. The broadband energy harvesting is achieved at higher excitation levels and an average power output of 0.193 mW across the resistance of 8.2 k\$\\Omega\$ is attained under the excitation of 10 Hz and 4.0 g.


A Novel Bi-Stable Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Inspired by the Venus Flytrap

Division / Sponsors: 
Design Engineering Division and Computers & Information In Engineering Division


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2020/volume/83907

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