Thermal energy conversion by coupled shape memory and piezoelectric effects

• Published in: Journal of micromechanics and microengineering Vol. 22; no. 9; pp. 94005 - 7
• Main Authors: Zakharov, Dmitry, Lebedev, Gor, Cugat, Orphee, Delamare, Jerome, Viala, Bernard, Lafont, Thomas, Gimeno, Leticia, Shelyakov, Alexander
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 01.09.2012
• Subjects: Cooling; Harvesters; Joining; Lead zirconate titanates; Piezoelectricity; Prototypes; Shape memory alloys; Thermal energy

This work gives experimental evidence of a promising method of thermal-to-electric energy conversion by coupling shape memory effect (SME) and direct piezoelectric effect (DPE) for harvesting quasi-static ambient temperature variations. Two original prototypes of thermal energy harvesters have been...