Factors affecting maximum power generation in a piezoelectric pulse generator

Factors affecting maximum power generation capabilities of a piezoelectric generator are presented in this investigation. The goal of the investigation is to find the factors that effect the power maximization of piezoelectric pulse generator. In the previous investigation, the results showed that the power of the piezoelectric pulse generator is an increasing function of thickness to area ratio (i.e., TAR) and the applied input force. Increasing the TAR and input force will produce a higher output power of the piezoelectric generator. In this investigation, the input force limitation and stress limitation are imposed on the maximization theory of the piezoelectric pulse generator previously presented. The results show that the optimum peak power is the intersection of these two limitations. If the thickness of the material is held constant and there is no limitation of the applied force, increasing the applied force at the expense of larger cross-sectional area will produce the higher peak power. On the other hand, if the input put force is held constant, increasing the thickness of piezoelectric material shows the increase of peak power. With the combination of these two findings, it can be concluded that optimum peak power can be found at a larger volume of the material (i.e., volume of piezoelectric pulse generator is a scaling factor of the optimum peak power). Increasing the volume of the material can be done in two ways (i.e., increasing surface area or increasing thickness). The experimental data of the piezoelectric pulse generator are presented to verify the theory. The theoretical and experimental results are in good agreement. The highest peak power of the piezoelectric pulse generator in this investigation is 113.20 kW.