Harvard University, Graduate School of Design & School of Engineering and Applied, Sciences
SCI 6477: Nano Macro Micro, Fall 2021
Instructors: Jonathan Grinham, Joanna Aizenberg
Collaborators: Haritosh Patel, Jiwon Woo, Viviana Urra
An exploration for auxetic structure designs for piezoelectricity generation - experiments compared results obtained from COMSOL Multiphysics simulation and Instron device compression test. Design iterations, simulations,s and experiments as a first approach towards understanding the stress performance of a pattern based on hexagonal modules with variations in its size, orientation, and arrangement.
We considered working with piezoelectric materials for the possibility of creating thin membranes that can be incorporated into various structures in the built or domestic environment. The main application of this design is taking advantage of the ambient vibrations available in the built environment, for example, the vibration of roads, bridges, floors, buildings, vehicles, or machinery. This ambient vibration might be sufficient to provide energy to small devices through piezoelectricity as domestic devices, health sensor monitoring, wireless switches, security equipment, among others.
One of the future challenges this research can face is researching the optimal modification of the combination of materials to reach the most efficient energy harvesting, studying the stress direction modification considering the application of the piezoelectric membrane, and altering structure patterns.
design iterations
simulation and testing
prototyping
results