A Double Bi-stable Energy Harvester for Enhanced Ability of Bi-stable Energy Harvesting from Random Vibration

Abstract

ABSTRACT In order to improve the efficiency of the bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester (BEH), a double bi-stable energy harvester (DBEH) is proposed. The four piezoelectric cantilever beams which have a magnet in free end are put together. So each magnet is subjected to three force of magnetic repulsion. It can pull down the potential barrier and can make it easier to jump between potential wells. The double bi-stable energy harvester can realize snap-through at lower excitation than bi-stable energy harvester. The potential energy and the electro-mechanical equation of the DBEH are derived. Simulations and validation experiments are designed and carried out. The simulation results show that double bi-stable energy harvester can harvest more energy than bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester at different levels of excitations. The experimental results are in agreement with the simulations, which prove that the double bi-stable energy harvester is preferable to bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester in harvesting energy from random vibration.