Structural Optimization of 2-DOF Cantilever Based Energy Harvester Using Krill-Herd Algorithm to Obtain Maximum Efficiency

Recently the piezoelectric cantilever-based energy harvesting techniques have been paid more attention to energize low power devices such as various sensors in wireless sensor networks. In this paper the structural shape of the cantilever is optimized which comprises of driver and absorber mass attached with each other with strong mechanical coupling unit. Conversion of vibrational energy into electrical energy with the help of piezoelectric sensor which is attached with cantilever beam. The modelling of 2-DOF cantilever beam is done by lumped parameter model and its frequency response is plotted. The shape of the cantilever is optimized with krill-herd optimization algorithm. The performance of the proposed optimum values of 2-DOF cantilever shows better results compared to the conventional cantilever structure.