Harvesting Energy from Rain Drop through Application of PZT Material: A Review

In recent years there has been an increased interest in scavenging energy using alternative sources. Renewable energy such as solar, wind, biomass, hydro and tidal wave are studied and implemented all around the globe. One of the potential sources of energy is rain. The common way to generate energy from this source is by utilizing dam system. Although it is very effective and the electrical energy generated by it is promising but it is not applicable or worth to be implemented everywhere especially in remote areas. studies have shown that the vibration produced by raindrops at the moment of impact is quite promising. This vibration can be harvested and one of the methods introduced in this paper is PEH (piezoelectric energy harvesting) technique, which can be used to capture vibration, motion or acoustic noise, to be converted in to electrical output. This review paper aims to provide a fundamental study on the behavior of raindrop, the potential energy it carries, the meteorological data and the types of impact. This investigation leads to a better understanding of these natural phenomena that helps the researchers to design a better configuration of PEH system and consequently obtaining greater output energy has been addressed.