Modeling and Simulation Approaches for Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvesting Systems

We present an overview of different modeling strategies for piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters. We point out different strength and weaknesses of common models for the electromechanical structure. Furthermore, simulation approaches for a combined simulation of the piezoelectric structure and energy extraction networks (EENs) are discussed and their basic implementations are described. We present an example of such an EEN that is controlled by the voltage of a separate electrode on the harvesting structure. Advantages of this technique over uncontrolled approaches are discussed.