Abstract
The performance of vibration energy harvesters is usually restricted by their frequency bandwidth. The double-clamped beam with strong natural nonlinearity is a simple way that can effectively expand the frequency bandwidth of the vibration energy harvester. In this article, a nonlinear electromagnetic vibration energy harvester with monostable double-clamped beam was proposed. A systematic analysis was conducted and a distributed parameter analytical model was established. On this basis, the output performance was estimated by the analytical model. It was found that the nonlinearity of the double-clamped beam had little influence on the maximum output, while broadening the frequency bandwidth. In addition, the resonant frequency, the frequency bandwidth, and the maximum output all increased following the increase of excitation level. Furthermore, the resonant frequency varies with the load changes, due to the electromagnetic damping, so the maximum output power should be gained at its optimum load and frequency. To experimentally verify the established analytical model, an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester demonstrator was built. The prediction by the analytical model was confirmed by the experiment. As a result, the open-circuit voltage, the average power and the frequency bandwidth of the electromagnetic vibration energy harvester can reach up to 3.6 V, 1.78 mW, and 11 Hz, respectively, under only 1 G acceleration, which shows a prospect for the application of the electromagnetic vibration energy harvester based on a double-clamped beam.
Highlights
Harvesting ambient vibration energy and converting it to electrical power is an important way for the power supply of wireless sensor networks [1,2,3]
Soy et al [9] calculated the linear and nonlinear stiffness of a double-clamped beam based on FR4 by the static method, the results showed a large deviation compared with the finite element simulation
∂xi is the axial tension during vibration, which is the source of nonlinearity of the double-clamped beam, where Eu, b, tu is the Young’s modulus, the half width, and the thickness of the Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, respectively
Summary
Harvesting ambient vibration energy and converting it to electrical power is an important way for the power supply of wireless sensor networks [1,2,3]. Soy et al [9] calculated the linear and nonlinear stiffness of a double-clamped beam based on FR4 by the static method, the results showed a large deviation compared with the finite element simulation. A nonlinear electromagnetic vibration energy harvester (n-EVEH) with a mono-stable double-clamped beam was proposed and the distributed parameter model for the n-EVEH device was established. On this basis, we calculated the modal deformation and natural frequencies and compared them with the finite element (FEM) simulation results. This work shows a significance for the structure design and performance improvement of a nonlinear electromagnetic vibration energy harvester
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