A Bi-stable Micro-machined Piezoelectric Transducer for Mechanical to Electrical Energy Transformation
Résumé
This paper presents a scavenging energy application of piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducers (pMUT). The micro power generator is composed by a silicon membrane (600µm diameter and 1µm thickness) with a 2µm thick PZT layer. The mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy through the piezoelectric effect as the bi-stable device switches between two stable states. We have experimentally tested the result of such a state change due to a simple rotation of the device in the gravity field by connecting the device to a high sampling-rate oscilloscope. The effect of the state change is a very sharp signal (larger than IV during 100 µs) corresponding to the stress inversion (compression).