Harmonic design of piezoelectric energy harvesting device coupled with electric circuit using topology optimization method

In this paper, a novel method based on topology optimization is proposed to design the piezoelectric energy harvester connected to the closed electric circuit. The objective function is defined as to maximize the energy conversion efficiency under harmonic dynamic loads. A finite element model which is coupled with piezoelectric-circuit is applied to analyze the piezoelectric energy harvesting systems. Combining the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method for piezoelectric, an design optimization method that optimizes the piezoelectric material layout was developed. Complex sensitivity analysis was derived and the density function of the SIMP method is updated using the sequence linear programming method. The validity of the proposed approach was demonstrated by numerical example of energy harvester design.