Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for Batteryless Switch Devices

This study investigated a piezoelectric energy-harvesting system for a mechanical switch device. Piezoelectric ceramics of 0.4Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-.25PbZrO(3)-0.35PbTiO(3) were prepared by using a conventional solid-state reaction method. Li2O, Bi2O3, and CuO additions were used as sintering aids to develop piezoelectric ceramics for low-temperature sintering. Multilayer piezoelectric ceramics with 10 x 10 x 3mm(3) sizes and with Ag-Pd inner electrodes were manufactured by using the conventional tape-casting method with the prepared powder. A prototype of a piezoelectric batteryless switch device using the multilayer ceramics was produced. It showed an output peak-to-peak voltage of 3.8V and an output power per strike of 18 mu W. The performance of the device was good enough for practical use. (C) 2013 The Japan Society of Applied Physics