Improved Energy Harvesting from Wideband Vibrations by Nonlinear Piezoelectric Converters

Abstract:The design of vibration energy harvesters (VEHs) is highly dependent upon the characteristics of the environmental vibrations present in the intended application. VEHs can be linear resonant systems tuned to particular frequencies or non-linear systems with either bi-stable operation or a Duffing-type response. This paper provides detailed vibration data from a range of applications, which has been made freely available for download through the Energy Harvesting Network's online data repository. In particular, this research shows that simulation is essential in designing and selecting the most suitable vibration energy harvester for particular applications. This is illustrated through C-based simulations of different types of VEHs, using real vibration data from a diesel ferry engine, a combined heat and power pump, a petrol car engine and a helicopter. The analysis shows that a bistable energy harvester only has a higher output power than a linear or Duffing-type nonlinear energy harvester with the same Q-factor when it is subjected to white noise vibration. The analysis also indicates that piezoelectric transduction mechanisms are more suitable for bistable energy harvesters than electromagnetic transduction. Furthermore, the linear energy harvester has a higher output power compared to the Duffing-type nonlinear energy harvester with the same Q factor in most cases. The Duffing-type nonlinear energy harvester can generate more power than the linear energy harvester only when it is excited at vibrations with multiple peaks and the frequencies of these peaks are within its bandwidth. Through these new observations, this paper illustrates the importance of simulation in the design of energy harvesting systems, with particular emphasis on the need to incorporate real vibration data. Keywords: Vibration energy harvesting, real vibration IntroductionEnergy harvesting (also known as energy scavenging) is the conversion of ambient energy present in the environment into electrical energy for the purpose of powering autonomous wireless electronics systems [1]. Kinetic energy harvesting involves the conversion of environmental vibrations and movements into electrical energy [2]. A kinetic energy harvester typically consists of a mechanical structure that couples the environmental kinetic energy to an electro-mechanical transducer that produces the electrical energy. Power conditioning electronics and some form of energy storage (e.g. battery or supercapacitor) are also normally required. In order to effectively couple the environmental kinetic energy to the transducer, the mechanical structure within the harvester must be carefully designed to match the characteristics of the environmental kinetic energy. A common approach is to match the resonant frequency of the harvester to a characteristic frequency present in the environmental vibrations. This means the optimum solution for harvesting vibration energy from an

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“…Ferrari et al [11] have developed a bistable configuration of the cantilever-based design shown in Fig. 1.…”

Section: Bistable Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alternatively, in some applications a harvester that exhibits non-linear behaviour (e.g. bistability [11]) may deliver the most energy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of power output from linear and nonlinear kinetic energy harvesters using real vibration data

Beeby

Wang

Zhu

et al. 2013

Smart Mater. Struct.

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“…This system has been studied extensively in the context of energy harvesting especially for the case of white noise excitation (Daqaq, 2011;Daqaq, 2012;Gammaitoni et al, 2009;Ferrari et al, 2010). However, for realistic setups it is important to be able to optimize/predict its statistical properties under general (colored) excitation.…”

Section: Methods Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Closure Schemes for Nonlinear Bistable Systems Subjected to Correlated Noise: Applications to Energy Harvesting from Water Waves

Joo

Sapsis

2015

JOWE

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Moment Equation Closure Minimization (MECM) method has been developed for the inexpensive approximation of the steady state statistical structure of bistable systems which have bimodal potential shapes and which are subjected to correlated excitation. Our approach relies on the derivation of moment equations that describe the dynamics governing the two-time statistics. These are then combined with a closure scheme which arises from a non-Gaussian pdf representation for the joint response-excitation statistics. We demonstrate its effectiveness through the application on a bistable nonlinear singledegree-of-freedom ocean wave energy harvester with linear damping and the results compare favorably with direct Monte Carlo Simulations.

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“…The resonance peak of vibrating beams fixed at one end can be broadened by mounting magnets at their free end and placing a fixed repelling magnet opposite to it [6,7] (cf. Figure 6).…”

Section: Piezoelectric Beammentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Harvesting for Sensors of Structural Integrity in Wind Power Stations

Behnke

Schomburg

2017

Proceedings of Eurosensors 2017, Paris, France, 3–6 September 2017

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Abstract:The structural integrity of the rotors of wind power stations can be monitored by a variety of sensors. However, the power supply of the employed sensors should not be connected by cable because lightning strikes are provoked that way. Therefore, energy harvesting systems are an interesting alternative. Three concepts for electrical power generation by harvesting the energy from the movements inside of rotor blades of wind power stations are described and compared to each other. Inside of such rotor blades, large vibration amplitudes of up to 15 cm are available but only at a frequency of a few Hertz. The available space is on the order of 20 × 20 × 40 cm 3 . A beam equipped with piezos and repelling magnets turned out being the most promising solution.

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Improved Energy Harvesting from Wideband Vibrations by Nonlinear Piezoelectric Converters

Cited by 121 publications

References 8 publications

A comparison of power output from linear and nonlinear kinetic energy harvesters using real vibration data

A comparison of power output from linear and nonlinear kinetic energy harvesters using real vibration data

Closure Schemes for Nonlinear Bistable Systems Subjected to Correlated Noise: Applications to Energy Harvesting from Water Waves

Energy Harvesting for Sensors of Structural Integrity in Wind Power Stations

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