HELP! how can i increase a piezo electric current?

[jheff]

We have a small project about piezo electric. We used ceramic transducers and our problem is that the current is too small. Our LED's are dull and not a bright as the normal brightness of LED's. Please lend us some advice on how to increase our current. Does Darlington Circuit really helps improve our current?

When we apply force on our transducers we gain the ff. specs:
-Voltage ranges from 2V - 40V AC
-Current ranges from 1mA-6mA AC


We really need some professional advice
Thanks!

:

 

[Hero999]

Plsea post a schematic of what you already have.

 

[jheff]

@ Hero999

all of our ceramic transducers are in parallel.. We don't really have a schematic.. We just need some advice on how can we increase our current..


???

 

[Hero999]

Are you just trying to power the LEDs from the transducers? If so you need to add more transducers or increase the force or speed of the mechanical action. Adding a transformer will increase the current but the voltage will be lower so may not be high to light the LEDs.

You need more power. The only other way would be to use an amplifier which requires another power source be it a battery, solar power or the mains. You can't create power from nothing.

 

[jheff]

Yes sir, we are trying to power up the LED. But the LED is too dim when we apply mechanical forces. We tried 4 transducers in parallel but the LED is still too dim. I searched about Darlington Circuit, is it advisable to use this circuit to increase our current with battery?

 

[audioguru2]

We talked on one of these forums about harnassing energy from a piezo transducer in a shoe.
It drives an IC made for the very low voltage and very low current. Then the IC charges a capacitor or battery.

When enough energy is stored then another IC can blink an LED. 

 

[jheff]

can you give me the link for the forum please?
thanks!


lol


;D

 

[audioguru2]

can you give me the link for the forum please?

It was one or two years ago and i don't remember which website.
.
Look at Energy Harvesting in Google. There are millions of links.

 

[Hero999]

Yes sir, we are trying to power up the LED. But the LED is too dim when we apply mechanical forces. We tried 4 transducers in parallel but the LED is still too dim. I searched about Darlington Circuit, is it advisable to use this circuit to increase our current with battery?

The circuit in question only lights the LED briefly when enough energy has been gatherd. It doesn't continuously light the LED brightly. You can't create energy from nothing, for example, there isn't a circuit which would allow a single AA cell to provide enough power to boil a kettle and the same principle applies here.