Determining a piston's top dead center (TDC) in an automobile using installed piezoelectric on a vibrating beam

Abstract

Smart structures and MEMS are considered important field recently, due to the importance and high capabilities in measurement and the power of reaction and response to changes of the surroundings. This research concerns two fields of practical vision in the automotive industry and discuss the energy recycled industrial vibrations. The goal is to use the PVDF piezoelectric elements in car flywheel for energy harvesting, and compare and replace it with the revolution sensor. This research is totally based on empirical tests data and the result that the use of piezoelectric polymer sensors can harvest energy, was find performing far better than inductive sensors.

Keywords: Piezoelectric element; Vibration energy harvesting; smart structures; Revolution sensor; Flywheel