Modeling, Simulation, and Experimental Validation: Optimal Placement of a Piezoelectric Energy Harvester via Magnetic Coupling From AC Power Lines Considering Air and Strain Damping

ABSTRACT The growing need for reliable, maintenance‐free monitoring of power line infrastructure has intensified interest in sustainable power sources for wireless sensors. Piezoelectric energy harvesting offers a promising alternative to batteries. However, most existing power line harvesters deliberately ignore the combined effects of air damping, strain rate damping, and optimal positioning relative to AC power lines, which limits their power output and real‐world applicability. This study addresses the gap and explicitly integrates them within a unified analytical, numerical, and experimental framework validating an optimally positioned piezoelectric energy harvester that extracts mechanical energy from the alternating magnetic field generated by current‐carrying conductors. A coupled electromechanical model was formulated, incorporating magnetic excitation, air damping, strain damping to support and verify the results from the experimental setup. Results show that a 6.35 mm 3 magnet placed beneath the power line, generates a peak force of 5.386 mN and an output voltage of 563.68 mV, with the harvested power increasing linearly with airflow velocity under a 9 A current flow at 4 mm from the AC power Line. The LTC3588‐1 interface subsequently rectified and boosted the harvested voltage to a stable 3.3 V DC supply, demonstrating suitability for powering low‐power Internet of Things (IoT) sensors in smart grid applications.