In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, electronic devices are becoming increasingly miniaturized and lightweight to overcome spatial limitations, necessitating lower power consumption. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), which convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, offer an ideal solution as small-scale power generators for these compact devices. Recent research has focused on various materials and structural designs to maximize the output of triboelectric energy harvesters, highlighting the growing importance of theoretical structure analysis software for precise evaluation. COMSOL Multiphysics software provides an accurate method for simulating the electrical characteristics of TENGs. This Tutorial Status Report introduces the process of modeling TENGs and analyzing their electrical output using COMSOL Multiphysics
The insulator used for the transmission line is a device that is bonded with a cap, pin, ceramic, and cement to withstand insulation capacity and mechanical load. The insulator design can help to reduce the dispersion of the electric field; thus, the optimization of today’s design, especially as demanded power grows, is critical. The designs of four manufacturers were used to perform a comparative analysis. Under dry circumstances of the new product, an electric field distribution study was done with no pollutants attached. Manufacturer D’s design has the best voltage uniformity of 24.33% and the arc length of 500 mm or more. Manufacturer C’s design has an equalizing voltage of more than 2% higher than that of other manufacturers. The importance of the design of the insulator and the number of connections according to the installation conditions is very efficient for transmission lines that will increase in the future.
In the 4th industrial age, electronic devices are becoming smaller and lighter with a low power consumption to overcome spatial limitation. The piezoelectric energy harvesters can convert mechanical kinetic energy into electric energy; thus, enabling the operation of small electronic devices. Recently, various piezoelectric harvesters have been reported and the electric output from these harvesters could be anticipated by theoretical analysis methods. For example, COMSOL Multiphysics software provides a theoretical simulation of piezoelectric effect with a combination of mechanical and electrical phenomena in the piezoelectric materials. This article introduces a brief modeling of piezoelectric harvester to investigate mechanical stress and electrical output of harvesting devices by the COMSOL Multiphysics software.
A linear piezoelectric actuator that utilizes the elliptical motion of the two tips of the actuator is proposed. This device is easy to fabricate owing to its simple structure, consisting of three piezo ceramic benders and is suitable for use in micro robotic applications. A π-shaped structure, which was composed of four piezo ceramic benders, was constructed. Two of the benders were positioned on the center of the actuator, and the joints were attached at the ends of the cantilever. The other two benders were positioned on the side of the actuator and were attached between the joint and the tips. The actuator structure was designed to obtain the first bending mode of the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration at the same frequency, resulting in elliptical motions at the tips. When two sinusoidal wave voltages with a 90-degree phase difference were applied to the two pairs of the actuator benders, elliptical motions were obtained at the tips. The driving characteristics of the prototype actuator were then measured using a laser doppler vibrometer.
In this study, novel ultrasonic rotary motor of hexadecagon shape stator was proposed. Statorof the hexadecagon ultrasonic motor was composed of an elastic ring and ceramics. The elastic ring hadsixteen sides and sixteen angular points. Eight ceramics were attached on the outer surface of the eightsides of the ring. When rotor of cylindrical shaft was inserted inside of the ring stator, central lines of thesixteen sides of the stator hold the shaft by the slight pressures(frictions). This slight pressure was apreload of the motor and it could be controlled by radius and thickness of the ring. When two sinusoidalvoltages which have 90 degree phase difference were applied to each four ceramics, elliptical displacementsof inner surface of the ring were obtained. These elliptical displacements of the inner surface rotated theshaft rotor through the frictions. The proposed hexadecagon ultrasonic motor was designed and analyzedby using the finite element method (FEM), depending on materials of the elastic ring. Based on the FEMresults, one model of motor which showed maximum displacement at contact points was chosen andfabricated. And characteristics of the motor were compared with simulated results. When the motor wasfabricated with these results, EL20ET0.5CT0.5CW2 model showed 115[rpm] speed about input voltage of60[Vrms] at 65.6[kHz]. And the maximum torque of 6[gfcm] was obtained. From these results, thehexadecagon shaped ultrasonic motor can be used to actuator for optical device which needs detailedposition control. Also it can be used to medical and portable device by reducing size and weight.
A novel design of a simple square-frame USM (ultrasonic motor) was proposed. The stator of the motor consists of a square-frame shape elastic body and four rectangular plate ceramics. The four ceramics were attached to inner surfaces of the square frame elastic body. The same phase voltages were applied to the ceramics on horizontal surfaces, and 90 degree phase difference voltage were applied to the ceramics on vertical surfaces. To find a model that generates elliptical motion at outside of the stator, the finite element analysis program ATILA was used. The analyzed results were compared to the experimental results. As result, the model EL10EH3ET0.5CL4 which generates the maximum elliptical displacement was chosen by analyzing the resonance mode according to changes in frequency.