Abstract
Recent patents on piezoelectric energy harvesting transducer structures are reviewed in this article. The review considers the mechanical structures and application areas and also discusses the harvester efficiency, if referred to in the patents. Three main categories for piezoelectric energy harvesting based on the specific resonance frequency of the structure and impact and quasi-static excitation methods are presented and recent patents on each of these techniques are reviewed. Future development of energy harvester structures and the research field are also discussed.
Keywords: Energy harvesting, energy scavenging, piezoelectric transducer
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