A 2-degree-of-freedom cubic nonlinear piezoelectric harvester intended for practical low-frequency vibration

Abstract In the field of piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient low-frequency vibrations, frequency up-converting effect is a classical approach to improve the efficiencies of energy conversion and extraction. However, most of the frequency up-converting harvesters are implemented by either mechanical impacts or non-contact impulse-like accelerations, which needs high-level excitations and usually leads to reduced longevity or considerable noise. To address these limitations, this paper introduces and demonstrates a novel frequency up-converting energy harvester based on 1:3 internal resonance. The nonlinear harvester mainly consists of two asymmetric cantilever beams in which the ratio of their resonant frequencies is 1:3. The harvester features two vibrational degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) corresponding to the two cantilevers: The primary DOF picks up the ambient low-frequency vibrations and excites the secondary one to vibrate drastically at its resonant frequency. Because the secondary resonance is three times higher than the excited frequency, the harvester realizes the frequency up-conversion. The underlying mechanisms of this design are thoroughly analyzed in the numerical simulation and experiment.

[1]  Kwang-Seok Yun,et al.  Piezoelectric energy harvester operated by noncontact mechanical frequency up-conversion using shell cantilever structure , 2015 .

[2]  Henry A. Sodano,et al.  A review of power harvesting using piezoelectric materials (2003–2006) , 2007 .

[3]  S. Jung,et al.  Energy-harvesting device with mechanical frequency-up conversion mechanism for increased power efficiency and wideband operation , 2010 .

[4]  Young-Jin Kim,et al.  Phase-dependent dynamic potential of magnetically coupled two-degree-of-freedom bistable energy harvester , 2016, Scientific Reports.

[5]  John Ojur Dennis,et al.  A wideband, frequency up-converting bounded vibration energy harvester for a low-frequency environment , 2013 .

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

[7]  D. Inman,et al.  Frequency Self-tuning Scheme for Broadband Vibration Energy Harvesting , 2010 .

[8]  M. G. Prasad,et al.  A vibration energy harvesting device with bidirectional resonance frequency tunability , 2008 .

[9]  D. Guyomar,et al.  Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting using a Synchronized Switch Technique , 2006 .

[10]  B. Alphenaar,et al.  SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES , 2009 .

[11]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  A study of low level vibrations as a power source for wireless sensor nodes , 2003, Comput. Commun..

[12]  A. Erturk,et al.  On the Role of Nonlinearities in Vibratory Energy Harvesting: A Critical Review and Discussion , 2014 .

[13]  Di Chen,et al.  A MEMS-based piezoelectric power generator array for vibration energy harvesting , 2008, Microelectron. J..

[14]  Yang Zhang,et al.  Toward self-tuning adaptive vibration-based microgenerators , 2005, SPIE Micro + Nano Materials, Devices, and Applications.

[15]  C. Livermore,et al.  Impact-driven, frequency up-converting coupled vibration energy harvesting device for low frequency operation , 2011 .

[16]  Kar W. Yung,et al.  An Analytic Solution for the Force Between Two Magnetic Dipoles , 1998 .

[17]  Daniel J. Inman,et al.  Nonlinear nonconservative behavior and modeling of piezoelectric energy harvesters including proof mass effects , 2012 .

[18]  Hao Wu,et al.  Development of a broadband nonlinear two-degree-of-freedom piezoelectric energy harvester , 2014 .

[19]  Adrien Badel,et al.  Novel piezoelectric bistable oscillator architecture for wideband vibration energy harvesting , 2013 .

[20]  Marco Ferrari,et al.  Piezoelectric buckled beams for random vibration energy harvesting , 2012 .

[21]  Jiawen Xu,et al.  Modeling and analysis of piezoelectric cantilever-pendulum system for multi-directional energy harvesting , 2017 .

[22]  Chee Kiong Soh,et al.  Broadband Vibration Energy Harvesting Techniques , 2013 .

[23]  Meiling Zhu,et al.  Plucked Piezoelectric Bimorphs for Energy Harvesting , 2013 .

[24]  Zhihao Yang,et al.  Design and characterisation of a piezoelectric knee-joint energy harvester with frequency up-conversion through magnetic plucking , 2016 .

[25]  Li-Qun Chen,et al.  Internal Resonance Energy Harvesting , 2015 .

[26]  Adrien Badel,et al.  Piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting by optimized synchronous electric charge extraction , 2013 .

[27]  Carol Livermore,et al.  Passively-Switched, Non-Contact Energy Harvester for Broad Operational Range and Enhanced Durability , 2015 .

[28]  Jinhao Qiu,et al.  Comparison of electromagnetic and piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters: Model and experiments , 2012 .

[29]  S. Beeby,et al.  Energy harvesting vibration sources for microsystems applications , 2006 .

[30]  Ephrahim Garcia,et al.  Broadband vibration-based energy harvesting improvement through frequency up-conversion by magnetic excitation , 2010 .

[31]  Takashi Hikihara,et al.  Energy absorption at synchronization in phase between coupled Duffing systems , 2015 .

[32]  Muhammad R. Hajj,et al.  Modeling, validation, and performance of low-frequency piezoelectric energy harvesters , 2014 .

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

[34]  Chee Kiong Soh,et al.  Improving functionality of vibration energy harvesters using magnets , 2012 .

[35]  Eric M. Yeatman,et al.  Self-tuning behavior of a clamped-clamped beam with sliding proof mass for broadband energy harvesting , 2013 .

[36]  Eric M. Yeatman,et al.  Magnetic plucking of piezoelectric beams for frequency up-converting energy harvesters , 2014 .

[37]  Tao Chen,et al.  Modeling and verification of a piezoelectric frequency-up-conversion energy harvesting system , 2017 .

[38]  D. Guyomar,et al.  Toward energy harvesting using active materials and conversion improvement by nonlinear processing , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[39]  Peter Woias,et al.  A smart and self-sufficient frequency tunable vibration energy harvester , 2011 .