Piezoelectric material is used as an active material to convert vibration energy into electrical output and so called piezoelectric energy harvesting. The harvester's dynamic model depends on several parameters such as physical dimensions, geometrical structure, mechanical and electrical properties of the piezoelectric material. The development of theoretical model for analysis and simulation is a complex task whereas complete information about these parameters is not available from the manufacturer's datasheet.

Piezoelectric energy harvesting technology is used to design battery less microelectronic devices such as wireless sensor nodes. This paper investigates the necessary conditions to enhance the extracted AC electrical power from exciting vibrations energy using piezoelectric materials. The effect of tip masses and their mounting positions are investigated to enhance the system performance. The optimal resistive load is estimated to maximize the power output. Different capacitive loads are tested to store the output energy.