Spring-Based Active Shock Absorber Systems with Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters.

In this research, energy harvesters with different types of spring-based shock absorbers were invested for the active shock absorber applications. Two different types of spring-based shock absorbers were prepared for the comparison, coil type spring-based shock absorbers and specially designed slice type spring-based shock absorbers. Shock absorbers have been widely employed to protect the complicated main system by cancelling the applied mechanical forces from outsides. Therefore, in the classical points of view, shock absorber can be prepared by the elastic materials to store and release the applied mechanical energy with sequentially in the form of elastic energy, thermal energy, and sound energy. However, in recently, there are strong demands to replace this classical shock absorber to the energy harvesters, which can collect the wasted energy in the form of electrical energy. Therefore, in this research, alternative two different types of spring-based advanced shock absorber will be presented and discussed. To combine with the spring-based shock absorber, multilayered piezoelectric energy harvesters were attached to collect the applied mechanical energy.