Performance of Fe–Ga alloy rotational vibration energy harvester with centrifugal softening

Abstract

With the development of vibration energy harvesting, sensor nodes for wireless monitoring are being increasingly powered by harvesting vibrations in rotating environments such as car tires and fan blades. Considering the diverse installation positions of vibration energy harvesters on rotating carriers, the centrifugal forces of the cantilever beams exhibit remarkable differences during rotation. Crucial factors for the performance of vibration energy harvesting include the deformation of the harvester cantilever beam, which is affected by the centrifugal force, and the influence of the pre-magnetization field on the Villari effect of specific alloys. We propose a rotational vibration energy harvester based on an Fe-Ga alloy and establish a mathematical model for magnetostrictive vibration energy harvesting by leveraging centrifugal softening. In addition, we perform a systematic theoretical analysis of the factors influencing the harvester performance considering centrifugal softening, rotation radius, and arrangement of the pre-magnetization field. The theoretical findings are verified on a prototype, and the system characteristics are investigated experimentally. The maximum output voltage reaches 3.36 V, and the energy harvesting efficiency reaches 22.86% when the harvester undergoes rotation at 330 r/min. Moreover, the harvester is applied in a low-power temperature sensor for real-time temperature monitoring, indicating the validity and applicability of the proposed rotational vibration energy harvester. The results demonstrate that an appropriate use of the centrifugal softening and the pre-magnetization field can enhance the energy harvesting efficiency of a harvester operating at a low rotational frequency.

Characterization of magnetostrictive bi-stable rotational vibration energy harvester with integrated centrifugal effect

“…Figure 8 shows the schematic and physical diagram of the system. It should be emphasized here that in-depth theoretical and experimental explorations regarding the design of the coil and the pre-magnetization field have been done in the previous work of Liu et al [27,39,40]. Combining the results of previous studies, a coil with a wire diameter of 0.19 mm is used, wound on a composite cantilever beam according to the number of turns 1500.…”

“…Nevertheless, the study of energy harvesting utilizing magnetostrictive materials remains in the early stages of exploration. Our group has conducted initial investigations on magnetostrictive harvesters to extract rotational kinetic energy [26,27]. These studies have explored the impact of pre-magnetization fields, centrifugal effects, and other factors on the harvesting performance of these devices.…”

Microstructural contribution to the magnetic anisotropy in Fe 1 − x <

“…Smart magnetostrictive materials [1,2] are promising candidates for applications in self-sustainable wireless sensor * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. networks [3], self-tuning vibration energy harvesting devices [4], and more recently in neural network systems for neuromorphic computing [5][6][7]. Neuromorphic systems are capable of mimicking the cognitive functionalities of the human brain to develop new computing platforms.…”

Magnetic Harvester for an Autonomous Steel Health Monitoring System Based on Hall Effect Measurements

“…The significance of energy harvesting becomes clear when considering mechanical systems, such as aircraft engines, where hardware monitoring during operation is mandatory, as any malfunction can prove catastrophic [ 10 ], or systems like wireless sensor networks (WSN), micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and unmanned aerial vehicles, which are designed to work specifically in severe environments [ 11 ] and battery replacements are not an option.…”