Electrical power management and optimization with nonlinear energy harvesting structures

Abstract

In recent years, great advances in understanding the opportunities for nonlinear vibration energy harvesting systems have been achieved giving attention to either the structural or electrical subsystems. Yet, a notable disconnect appears in the knowledge on optimal means to integrate nonlinear energy harvesting structures with effective nonlinear rectifying and power management circuits for practical applications. Motivated to fill this knowledge gap, this research employs impedance principles to investigate power optimization strategies for a nonlinear vibration energy harvester interfaced with a bridge rectifier and a buck-boost converter. The frequency and amplitude dependence of the internal impedance of the harvester structure challenges the conventional impedance matching concepts. Instead, a system-level optimization strategy is established and validated through simulations and experiments. Through careful studies, the means to optimize the electrical power with partial information of the electrical load is revealed and verified in comparison to the full analysis. These results suggest that future study and implementation of optimal nonlinear energy harvesting systems may find effective guidance through power flow concepts built on linear theories despite the presence of nonlinearities in structures and circuits.

A machine learning approach for maximizing direct current power of nonlinear energy harvesting systems subjected to periodic impulse excitation

“…As shown in Fig. 2(a), similar to the frequency responses under harmonic excitation [3,4], for lower periodic impulse frequencies the small amplitude intrawell vibration is induced for both systems. With the increase of the periodic impulse frequency to around 9 Hz, there is a discrete increase in the displacement amplitude by almost 10 times, illustrating the generation of snap-through vibration.…”

“…Three possible vibration classes may be generated in bistable structures, including snap-through vibration with displacement crossing the two equilibria, intrawell vibration that oscillates around one equilibrium configuration, and chaotic vibration [13]. Recently, researchers have explored methods to attain high-energy snap-through vibration [3,4,45,25], such as activated potential energy profiles [46], and load perturbations [34]. In addition, since direct current (DC) power is required to power IoT sensors, nonlinear circuits are investigated when coupled with nonlinear energy harvesters to examine strategies that optimize harvested DC power [9,36,21].…”

“…Huguet et al [19] explored the integration of bistable energy harvesters with synchronized electric charge extraction (SECE) circuits and found an increase in electric power and decrease in frequency bandwidth when subjected to harmonic excitation. Cai and Harne [3,4] proposed an analytical approach to determine optimal working conditions for buck-boost converters interfaced with nonlinear energy harvesters under pure harmonic excitation.…”

Green Communication for Next‐Generation Wireless Systems: Optimization Strategies, Challenges, Solutions, and Future Aspects

“…Further, Tai and Zuo [47] have conducted a two-variable optimization analysis for deriving the exact optimization conditions for maximum power. Furthermore, Cai and Harne [48] have proposed an optimal optimization framework at the system level, particularly for a nonlinear vibration energy harvester. Besides, Fouad [49] has discussed the important role of the rectifier in energy harvesting applications and proposed an efficient CMOS rectifier.…”

Study of a magnetic SMA-based energy harvester using a corrugated structure

“…In order to optimize the characteristics and outputs of energy harvester systems, a new technique was implemented by Cai and Harne (2019). A system-level optimization strategy was established and validated through simulations and experiments.…”