An improved PZT cantilever SPICE model for practical energy harvesting circuits simulations and measurements

Energy harvesting, converting ambient energy into electrical energy, represents an alternative to power sensor nodes. The development of piezoelectric energy harvesting systems needs accurate models for system-performance evaluation. Mechanical researchers build distributed models for energy scavengers, simplifying the energy harvesting circuit and using analytical derivation, while electrical researchers focus on the modeling of the energy harvesting circuit and simplifying the structural conditions of the scavenging devices. The challenges for accurate modeling of such electro-mechanical systems remain, when complicated mechanical conditions and practical energy harvesting circuits are considered in system design. This article addresses the above-mentioned problem, employing an equivalent circuit, which bridges the structural modeling and electrical functionality, allowing simulations of complex circuitry. The equivalent circuit has been simulated using SPICE software. Measurements are performed for verification of the proposed model.