Fiber-Based Piezocomposite Devices with Multiple Polarization Regions

This paper presents an enhancement to a recently presented continuous electric field model by the authors. The added freedom to the model allows for further optimization of the design of interdigitated-electrode fiber-based piezocomposite devices for vibration energy harvesting. The continuous electric model can estimate the equivalent capacitance, the coupling factor for 31 and 33 modes, for various electrode configurations without any ad-hoc correction factor. The electric field between electrodes is obtained by Gauss's law, which was later expanded to the whole geometry using the Fourier series. Several optimization problems are considered separately. It is shown that the electrode and the polarization configuration of the hybrid piezo-composite device, which has mixed 31 and 33 regions, outperform single-polarization devices for specific modes of vibration and loading cases.