Abstract
This paper presents a non-invasive, self-powered system that can be used in the suppression of vibrations medically affecting people. Mechanical vibratory signals are picked up by piezoelectric sensors. Magnitude and frequency information is given as a voltage. Electronic circuitry filters, amplifies and gates the signal before either storing or manipulating and feeding the signal back to piezoelectric actuators, at the required phase and amplitude to suppress the vibrations. Outcomes of the paper show the use of different flexible piezoelectric materials to effectively increase energy storage and reduce vibrations.
Advances in low power electronics have provided a means of solely powering devices from piezoelectric harvested energy, especially with the advent of piezoelectric ceramic fibre composites. Energy harvesting has been implemented in hand cranked radios, shake powered flashlights, wind farms, and solar energy. Through the use of standard electronic techniques acquired power can be converted, stored and regulated. Piezoelectric fibre composites are capable of extracting energy from mechanical forces with the aim of collecting a portion of the mechanical energy associated with normal activates and utilising this in the creation of a self powered device to suppress low level vibrations.