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Piezoelectric MEMS Energy Harvester

Rajasekaran Ganeshkumar

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Hi,
I'm using COMSOL MEMS Module and trying to compute eigen frequency and frequency response of the MEMS energy harvester design. My design have non-linear cantilever clamped at both ends and proof mass at the center of the beam. The active piezoelectric layer is AlN material of thickness 400nm and other elastic material layers, electrodes are of around or less than 200nm thickness.

I facing difficulty in meshing these thin layers. I have tried swept, free triangular boundary layer meshes but ended up with errors and problems. Please help me and guide me as Im a beginner to COMSOL FEA.

Thanks a lot!


5 Replies Last Post 24 mar 2014, 04:04 GMT-4
Bjorn Bretz COMSOL Employee

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Posted: 1 decade ago 21 mar 2014, 10:49 GMT-4
Dear Rajasekaran,

This geometry needs to be partitioned into more domains to enable successful swept meshing. The partitioning is done by the Extrude operation in the attached model (saved in version 4.4).

Best regards,
Bjorn Bretz
Dear Rajasekaran, This geometry needs to be partitioned into more domains to enable successful swept meshing. The partitioning is done by the Extrude operation in the attached model (saved in version 4.4). Best regards, Bjorn Bretz


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Posted: 1 decade ago 23 mar 2014, 23:12 GMT-4
Hi Bjorn Bretz
I am doing Piezo electric simulation. I want to see the effect of the varying temperature on the output piezoelectric open circuit voltage. I thought it will be better to start observing the resonance frequency with changing temperature. i used joule heating and thermal expansion. i increased the temperature but the resonance frequency remains same. can anyone tell me why the frequency is not changing? or how can i make the elasticity coefficient temperature dependent?
Hi Bjorn Bretz I am doing Piezo electric simulation. I want to see the effect of the varying temperature on the output piezoelectric open circuit voltage. I thought it will be better to start observing the resonance frequency with changing temperature. i used joule heating and thermal expansion. i increased the temperature but the resonance frequency remains same. can anyone tell me why the frequency is not changing? or how can i make the elasticity coefficient temperature dependent?

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Posted: 1 decade ago 24 mar 2014, 03:26 GMT-4
hi can u send the model using version 4.1 or 4,2a. i cannot open the file. i am facing the problem in meshing.
hi can u send the model using version 4.1 or 4,2a. i cannot open the file. i am facing the problem in meshing.

Bjorn Bretz COMSOL Employee

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Posted: 1 decade ago 24 mar 2014, 03:55 GMT-4
Dear Abid,

The model cannot be converted into any of these earlier versions since it contains geometry and meshing functionality that is not available in these versions.

Regards,
Bjorn Bretz
Dear Abid, The model cannot be converted into any of these earlier versions since it contains geometry and meshing functionality that is not available in these versions. Regards, Bjorn Bretz

Rajasekaran Ganeshkumar

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Posted: 1 decade ago 24 mar 2014, 04:04 GMT-4
Dear Bjorn Bretz,

Thanks a lot for your information. I'm using extrude now and can mesh the structures. I could simulate the eigen frequencies but when I see errors during frequency domain analysis. The error says 'maximum number of newton iterations reached', could you please explain why this is thrown and any clue to get rid of these. Thanks again.

Regards
Raja
Dear Bjorn Bretz, Thanks a lot for your information. I'm using extrude now and can mesh the structures. I could simulate the eigen frequencies but when I see errors during frequency domain analysis. The error says 'maximum number of newton iterations reached', could you please explain why this is thrown and any clue to get rid of these. Thanks again. Regards Raja

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