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Composite Materials for Sensor and Energy Harvesting Applications

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 January 2022) | Viewed by 9900

Special Issue Editors

Department of Frontier Science for Advanced Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Interests: structural composite materials; aerospace materials; nanocomposites; microstructure; interface
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Interests: mechanics and design; multiscale and multiphysics simulation; fracture and damage; multifunctional composite materials; realization of a sustainable society
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Continuous economic growth requires sophisticated structural and functional materials. The combination of a number of materials has the potential to produce properties that single materials do not provide. Composite materials for sensor and energy harvesting applications have recently attracted attention to realize the Internet of Things (IoT). In the present day, the mechanical properties and sensor and energy harvesting performance of composite materials have been enhanced by micro/nanostructure design. 

However, the relationships have not yet been elucidated between sensor and energy harvesting performance and the micro/nanostructure of composite materials, such as crystal grain size and structure, residual strain, interfacial bonding, and so on. The structural factor of composite materials must be clarified to improve sensor and energy harvesting performance to develop high-performance composite-based sensors and energy harvesting devices. 

In this Special Issue, we are calling for papers reporting the newest research on any composite materials for sensor and energy harvesting applications. We are broadly interested in fabrication methods, increases in mechanical properties, and improvements in sensor and energy harvesting performance, including evaluation of micro and nanostructure.

Prof. Dr. Hiroki Kurita
Prof. Dr. Fumio Narita
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Composite
  • Energy harvesting
  • Sensor
  • Piezoelectric
  • Magnetostrictive
  • Thermoelectric
  • Internet of Things

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 7301 KiB  
Article
Adaptive and Robust Operation with Active Fuzzy Harvester under Nonstationary and Random Disturbance Conditions
by Yushin Hara, Keisuke Otsuka and Kanjuro Makihara
Sensors 2021, 21(11), 3913; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21113913 - 06 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2425
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to amplify the output voltage magnitude from a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester under nonstationary and broadband vibration conditions. Improving the transferred energy, which is converted from mechanical energy to electrical energy through a piezoelectric transducer, achieved a [...] Read more.
The objective of this paper is to amplify the output voltage magnitude from a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester under nonstationary and broadband vibration conditions. Improving the transferred energy, which is converted from mechanical energy to electrical energy through a piezoelectric transducer, achieved a high output voltage and effective harvesting. A threshold-based switching strategy is used to improve the total transferred energy with consideration of the signs and amplitudes of the electromechanical conditions of the harvester. A time-invariant threshold cannot accomplish effective harvesting under nonstationary vibration conditions because the assessment criterion for desirable control changes in accordance with the disturbance scale. To solve this problem, we developed a switching strategy for the active harvester, namely, adaptive switching considering vibration suppression-threshold strategy. The strategy adopts a tuning algorithm for the time-varying threshold and implements appropriate intermittent switching without pre-tuning by means of the fuzzy control theory. We evaluated the proposed strategy under three realistic vibration conditions: a frequency sweep, a change in the number of dominant frequencies, and wideband frequency vibration. Experimental comparisons were conducted with existing strategies, which consider only the signs of the harvester electromechanical conditions. The results confirm that the presented strategy achieves a greater output voltage than the existing strategies under all nonstationary vibration conditions. The average amplification rate of output voltage for the proposed strategy is 203% compared with the output voltage by noncontrolled harvesting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite Materials for Sensor and Energy Harvesting Applications)
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13 pages, 2221 KiB  
Article
Use of Vibrational Optical Coherence Tomography to Analyze the Mechanical Properties of Composite Materials
by Frederick H. Silver, Nikita Kelkar and Tanmay Deshmukh
Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2001; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21062001 - 12 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1668
Abstract
Energy storage and dissipation by composite materials are important design parameters for sensors and other devices. While polymeric materials can reversibly store energy by decreased chain randomness (entropic loss) they fail to be able to dissipate energy effectively and ultimately fail due to [...] Read more.
Energy storage and dissipation by composite materials are important design parameters for sensors and other devices. While polymeric materials can reversibly store energy by decreased chain randomness (entropic loss) they fail to be able to dissipate energy effectively and ultimately fail due to fatigue and molecular chain breakage. In contrast, composite tissues, such as muscle and tendon complexes, store and dissipate energy through entropic changes in collagen (energy storage) and viscous losses (energy dissipation) by muscle fibers or through fluid flow of the interfibrillar matrix. In this paper we review the molecular basis for energy storage and dissipation by natural composite materials in an effort to aid in the development of improved substrates for sensors, implants and other commercial devices. In addition, we introduce vibrational optical coherence tomography, a new technique that can be used to follow energy storage and dissipation by composite materials without physically touching them. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite Materials for Sensor and Energy Harvesting Applications)
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18 pages, 8663 KiB  
Article
Crack Protective Layered Architecture of Lead-Free Piezoelectric Energy Harvester in Bistable Configuration
by Ondrej Rubes, Zdenek Machu, Oldrich Sevecek and Zdenek Hadas
Sensors 2020, 20(20), 5808; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20205808 - 14 Oct 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2073
Abstract
Kinetic piezoelectric energy harvesters are used to power up ultra-low power devices without batteries as an alternative and eco-friendly source of energy. This paper deals with a novel design of a lead-free multilayer energy harvester based on BaTiO3 ceramics. This material is [...] Read more.
Kinetic piezoelectric energy harvesters are used to power up ultra-low power devices without batteries as an alternative and eco-friendly source of energy. This paper deals with a novel design of a lead-free multilayer energy harvester based on BaTiO3 ceramics. This material is very brittle and might be cracked in small amplitudes of oscillations. However, the main aim of our development is the design of a crack protective layered architecture that protects an energy harvesting device in very high amplitudes of oscillations. This architecture is described and optimized for chosen geometry and the resulted one degree of freedom coupled electromechanical model is derived. This model could be used in bistable configuration and the model is extended about the nonlinear stiffness produced by auxiliary magnets. The complex bistable vibration energy harvester is simulated to predict operation in a wide range of frequency excitation. It should demonstrate typical operation of designed beam and a stress intensity factor was calculated for layers. The whole system, without presence of cracks, was simulated with an excitation acceleration of amplitude up to 1g. The maximal obtained power was around 2 mW at the frequency around 40 Hz with a maximal tip displacement 7.5 mm. The maximal operating amplitude of this novel design was calculated around 10 mm which is 10-times higher than without protective layers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite Materials for Sensor and Energy Harvesting Applications)
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16 pages, 7871 KiB  
Article
Electromechanical Response and Residual Thermal Stress of Metal-Core Piezoelectric Fiber /Al Matrix Composites
by Yinli Wang, Tetsuro Yanaseko, Hiroki Kurita, Hiroshi Sato, Hiroshi Asanuma and Fumio Narita
Sensors 2020, 20(20), 5799; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20205799 - 13 Oct 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2796
Abstract
It is well known that the curing residual stress induced during a fabrication process has a great influence on the performance of piezoelectric composite devices. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the residual thermal stress of lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric fiber [...] Read more.
It is well known that the curing residual stress induced during a fabrication process has a great influence on the performance of piezoelectric composite devices. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the residual thermal stress of lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric fiber aluminum (Al) matrix (piezoelectric fiber/Al) composites generated during fabrication numerically and experimentally and to understand the effect of the residual thermal stress on the electromechanical response. The three-dimensional finite element method was employed, and the residual stress generated during the solidification process of the Al matrix was calculated. The output voltage was also calculated in the analysis when putting stresses on the composite materials in the length direction of the piezoelectric fiber. It was shown that the cooling from higher temperatures increases the electromechanical conversion capability. Furthermore, we also performed the simulation, and we recorded the output voltage under concentrated load to investigate its application as a load position detection sensor, and we also discussed the influence of the position by changing the modeling with a different fiber position in the Al. The residual stress of hot press molded piezoelectric fiber/Al composite was then measured, and the comparison was made with the calculated values. The simulation results revealed that our model predictions reproduced and explained the experimental observations of curing residual stress. After this study, similar models of composite materials can be analyzed by this simulation, and the result can be used to design piezoelectric composite materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite Materials for Sensor and Energy Harvesting Applications)
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