ON THE FUNCTIONALIZATION OF COMPOSITE STRUCTURES USING PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCERS FOR TRANSPORTATION APPLICATIONS: VIBRATION CONTROL AND ENERGY HARVESTING
Résumé
Abstract. Composite material parts are used more than ever in transportation applications due
to their lightweight and mechanical strength. In recent years, progresses in additive manufactur-
ing processes have allowed not only to produce such materials more easily but also to integrate
active components inside the layers to create smart composite materials. This paper presents
two concrete applications for the transportation fi eld using integrated piezoelectric transducers
inside the composite material layers: energy harvesting for embedded sensors and vibration
control. First, a composite reduced-model car with an integrated transducer is excited using
a roller test bench. The piezoelectric patch is then coupled with an optimized self-powered
Synchronized Switch Harvesting on Inductor circuit (SSHI) and up to 40µW are harvested on
a resistive load. This power is stored on a capacitor and used to supply a temperature sen-
sor in addition to its wireless transmitter. The second application is the control of vibrations
through multiple transducers as actuators and sensors integrated directly into the composite
material of a spoiler using also nonlinear switching methods like Sliding Mode Control. The
performance level achieved on the targeted modes is up to -22dB, illustrating the potential of
nonlinear switching control for vibration control. These two applications provide good illus-
trations of the promising capabilities in the transportation fi eld of integrated composite smart
structures.