ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two types of piezoelectric generators that are designed to harvest impact or impulse forces: the piezoelectric push-button igniter; and the prestressed piezoelectric diaphragm material. Many environments, such as highways, and railways are subjected to ambient vibration energy that is not commonly used. To use the ambient vibrations as a power source, many researchers have successfully built and tested three basic methods for generating electrical energy from this vibration energy source: electromagnetic induction, electrostatic generation, and piezoelectric materials. Impact-based piezoelectric energy harvesting has been widely discussed in the literature to harvest waste kinetic energy from human motions, ammunitions, and so on for powering low-power electronic devices. A self-powered push button is an interesting application that utilizes impact-based energy harvesting for powering a self-powered remote controller. Piezoelectric push buttons have been widely used in industries for several purposes. Several experimental tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the designed piezoelectric push-button igniter system.
