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URN to cite this document: urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-9380-5
Title data
Mattauch, Philipp ; Schneider, Oliver ; Fischerauer, Gerhard:
Design strategies for stack-based piezoelectric energy harvesters near bridge bearings.
In: Sensors.
Vol. 25
(2025)
Issue 15
.
- 4692.
ISSN 1424-8220
DOI der Verlagsversion: https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154692
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Project information
| Project title: |
Project's official title Project's id Open Access Publizieren No information |
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| Project financing: |
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie |
Abstract
Energy harvesting systems (EHS) are widely used to power wireless sensors. Piezoelectric harvesters have the advantage of producing an electric signal directly related to the exciting force and can thus be used to power condition monitoring sensors in dynamically loaded structures such as bridges. The need for such a monitoring is exemplified by the fact that the condition of close to 25\% of public roadway bridges in, e.g., Germany is not satisfactory. Stack-based piezoelectric energy harvesting systems (pEHS) installed near bridge bearings could provide information about the traffic and dynamic loads on the one hand and condition-dependent changes in the bridge characteristics on the other hand. This paper presents an approach to co-optimizing the design of the mechanical and electrical components using a nonlinear solver. \tcr{Such an approch has not been described in the open literature to the best of the authors' knowledge. The mechanical excitation is estimated through a finite element simulation, and the electric circuitry is modeled in Simulink to account for the nonlinear characteristics of rectifying diodes. We use real traffic data to create statistical randomized scenarios for the optimization and statistical variation. A main result of this work is that it reveals the strong dependence of the energy output on the interaction between bridge, harvester, and traffic details. A second result is that the methodology yields design criteria for the harvester such that the energy output is maximized. Through the case study of an actual middle-sized bridge in Germany, we demonstrate the feasibility of harvesting a time-averaged power of several milliwatts throughout the day. Comparing the total amount of harvested energy for 1000 randomized traffic scenarios, we demonstrate the suitability of pEHS to power wireless sensor nodes. In addition, we show the potential sensory usability for traffic observation (vehicle frequency, vehicle weight, axle load, etc.).
Further data
| Item Type: | Article in a journal |
|---|---|
| Additional notes (visible to public): | Data publicly available under https://rdspace.uni-bayreuth.de/handle/rdspace-ubt/351 |
| Keywords: | Piezoelectric; energy harvesting; finite element; traffic; bridge maintenance; optimization |
| DDC Subjects: | 600 Technology, medicine, applied sciences > 620 Engineering |
| Institutions of the University: | Faculties Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science > Chair Measurement and Control Technology Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science > Chair Measurement and Control Technology > Chair Measurement and Control Technology - Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Fischerauer Research Institutions > Research Units > Zentrum für Energietechnik - ZET Research Institutions Research Institutions > Research Units |
| Language: | English |
| Originates at UBT: | Yes |
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-9380-5 |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Jun 2026 10:14 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Jun 2026 10:15 |
| URI: | https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/9380 |
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