The benefits of using a non-linear stiffness in an energy harvesting device comprising a mass-spring-damper system are investigated. Analysis based on the principle of conservation of energy reveals a fundamental limit of the effectiveness of any non-linear device over a tuned linear device for such an application. Two types of non-linear stiffness are considered. The first system has a non-linear bi-stable snap-through mechanism. This mechanism has the effect of steepening the displacement response of the mass as a function of time, resulting in a higher velocity for a given input excitation. Numerical results show that more power is harvested by the mechanism if the excitation frequency is much less than the natural frequency. The other non-linear system studied has a hardening spring, which has the effect of shifting the resonance frequency. Numerical and analytical studies show that the device with a hardening spring has a larger bandwidth over which the power can be harvested due to the shift in the resonance frequency.

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The research trend for harvesting energy from the ambient vibration sources has moved from using a linear resonant generator to a non-linear generator in order to improve on the performance of a linear generator; for example, the relatively small bandwidth, intolerance to mistune and the suitability of the device for low-frequency applications. This article presents experimental results to illustrate the dynamic behaviour of a dual-mode non-linear energy-harvesting device operating in hardening and bi-stable modes under harmonic excitation. The device is able to change from one mode to another by altering the negative magnetic stiffness by adjusting the separation gap between the magnets and the iron core. Results for the device operating in both modes are presented. They show that there is a larger bandwidth for the device operating in the hardening mode compared to the equivalent linear device. However, the maximum power transfer theory is less applicable for the hardening mode due to occurrence of the maximum power at different frequencies, which depends on the non-linearity and the damping in the system. The results for the bi-stable mode show that the device is insensitive to a range of excitation frequencies depending upon the input level, damping and non-linearity.

Attempts are being made to improve mechanical design by using nonlinearity rather than eliminating it, especially in the area of vibration control and in energy harvesting. In such systems, there is a need to both predict the dynamic behavior and to estimate the system properties from measurements. This paper concerns an experimental investigation of a simple identification method, which is specific to systems in which the behavior is known to be similar to that of a Duffing-type system. It involves the measurement of jump-down frequencies and the amplitudes of displacement at these frequencies. The theoretical basis for the method is briefly described as, is an experimental investigation on a beam-shaker system. The results are comparable with those determined by the restoring force surface method. The method described in this article has the advantage that the data can be collected and processed more easily than the restoring force surface method and can be potentially more suitable for the engineering community than existing identification measures.

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