The influence of mass configurations on velocity amplified vibrational energy harvesters

Vibrational energy harvesters scavenge ambient vibrational energy, offering an alternative to batteries for the autonomous operation of low power electronics. Velocity amplified electromagnetic generators (VAEGs) utilize the velocity amplification effect to increase power output and operational bandwidth, compared to linear resonators. A detailed experimental analysis of the influence of mass ratio and number of degrees-of-freedom (dofs) on the dynamic behaviour and power output of a macro-scale VAEG is presented. Various mass configurations are tested under drop-test and sinusoidal forced excitation, and the system performances are compared. For the drop-test, increasing mass ratio and number of dofs increases velocity amplification. Under forced excitation, the impacts between the masses are more complex, inducing greater energy losses. This results in the 2-dof systems achieving the highest velocities and, hence, highest output voltages. With fixed transducer size, higher mass ratios achieve higher voltage output due to the superior velocity amplification. Changing the magnet size to a fixed percentage of the final mass showed the increase in velocity of the systems with higher mass ratios is not significant enough to overcome the reduction in transducer size. Consequently, the 3:1 mass ratio systems achieved the highest output voltage. These findings are significant for the design of future reduced-scale VAEGs.

[1]  Peng Zeng,et al.  A Permanent-Magnet Linear Motion Driven Kinetic Energy Harvester , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[2]  Werner Schiehlen,et al.  Local and global stability of a piecewise linear oscillator , 1992, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[3]  P. Trivailo,et al.  A study of energy harvesting from piezoelectrics using impact forces , 2009 .

[4]  Alper Erturk,et al.  M-shaped asymmetric nonlinear oscillator for broadband vibration energy harvesting: Harmonic balance analysis and experimental validation , 2014 .

[5]  Gregory P. Carman,et al.  Hybrid rotary-translational vibration energy harvester using cycloidal motion as a mechanical amplifier , 2014 .

[6]  J. B. Hart,et al.  Energy Transfer in One-Dimensional Collisions of Many Objects , 1968 .

[7]  Dibin Zhu,et al.  Increasing output power of electromagnetic vibration energy harvesters using improved Halbach arrays , 2013 .

[8]  Bryan Rodgers,et al.  The dynamics of multiple pair-wise collisions in a chain for designing optimal shock amplifiers , 2009 .

[9]  Gwiy-Sang Chung,et al.  A study of an electromagnetic energy harvester using multi-pole magnet , 2013 .

[10]  Chengkuo Lee,et al.  Piezoelectric MEMS-based wideband energy harvesting systems using a frequency-up-conversion cantilever stopper , 2012 .

[11]  Daniel J. Inman,et al.  Energy Harvesting Technologies , 2008 .

[12]  T Pöschel,et al.  Extremal collision sequences of particles on a line: optimal transmission of kinetic energy. , 2001, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[13]  G. Reyne,et al.  Magnetic micro-actuators and systems (MAGMAS) , 2003 .

[14]  Yiannos Manoli,et al.  A closed-loop wide-range tunable mechanical resonator for energy harvesting systems , 2009 .

[15]  Yaowen Yang,et al.  A novel two-degrees-of-freedom piezoelectric energy harvester , 2013 .

[16]  Adrien Badel,et al.  Nonlinear vibration energy harvesting device integrating mechanical stoppers used as synchronous mechanical switches , 2014 .

[17]  Radu Olaru.  HARVESTING VIBRATION ENERGY BY ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION , 2011 .

[18]  Yonas Tadesse,et al.  Multimodal Energy Harvesting System: Piezoelectric and Electromagnetic , 2009 .

[19]  Khalil Najafi,et al.  Harvesting traffic-induced vibrations for structural health monitoring of bridges , 2011 .

[20]  J. Kerwin.  Velocity, Momentum, and Energy Transmissions in Chain Collisions , 1972 .

[21]  Daniel J. Inman,et al.  An experimentally validated bimorph cantilever model for piezoelectric energy harvesting from base excitations , 2009 .

[22]  Lei Gu,et al.  Low-frequency piezoelectric energy harvesting prototype suitable for the MEMS implementation , 2011, Microelectron. J..

[23]  Paul K. Wright,et al.  A piezoelectric vibration based generator for wireless electronics , 2004 .

[24]  S. Goyal,et al.  Enhanced vibrational energy harvester based on velocity amplification , 2014 .

[25]  M. G. Prasad,et al.  Towards an autonomous self-tuning vibration energy harvesting device for wireless sensor network applications , 2011 .

[26]  I. Kovacic,et al.  Potential benefits of a non-linear stiffness in an energy harvesting device , 2010 .

[27]  Saibal Roy,et al.  A micro electromagnetic generator for vibration energy harvesting , 2007 .

[28]  In-Ho Kim,et al.  A tunable rotational energy harvester for low frequency vibration , 2011 .

[29]  L. Gammaitoni,et al.  Nonlinear energy harvesting. , 2008, Physical review letters.

[30]  Jeff Punch,et al.  Energy scavenging for energy efficiency in networks and applications , 2010 .

[31]  Duy Son Nguyen,et al.  Nonlinear Behavior of an Electrostatic Energy Harvester Under Wide- and Narrowband Excitation , 2010, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[32]  Sung-Han Sim,et al.  A hybrid electromagnetic energy harvesting device for low frequency vibration , 2013, Smart Structures.

[33]  A. Amann,et al.  A nonlinear stretching based electromagnetic energy harvester on FR4 for wideband operation , 2014 .

[34]  Eric M. Yeatman,et al.  Microscale electrostatic energy harvester using internal impacts , 2012 .

[35]  Alper Erturk,et al.  Enhanced broadband piezoelectric energy harvesting using rotatable magnets , 2013 .

[36]  Brian P. Mann,et al.  Investigations of a nonlinear energy harvester with a bistable potential well , 2010 .

[37]  S. Roundy.  Energy Scavenging for Wireless Sensor Nodes with a Focus on Vibration-to-Electricity Conversion , 2003 .

[38]  Timothy C. Green,et al.  Energy Harvesting From Human and Machine Motion for Wireless Electronic Devices , 2008, Proceedings of the IEEE.