Application Of Energy Harvesting In The Field Of Mechanical Vibrations

Abstract

Energy harvesting (EH) is the most upcoming technology which is defined as a process where the environmental energy sources such as load, mechanical vibrations, temperature changes, light energy, wind energy etc. are captured and transformed to acquire quite small levels of power within the of range of Nano Watts - Milliwatts. This method is used to power an installed system by accumulating energy from ambient sources such as solar, wind, thermal and radio frequency waves. It is also called Energy Scavenging. The purpose of energy harvesting is to power electronic devices where there are no conventional power sources. The energy harvesting device has design goals and the three main elements are energy Source, Energy harvesting IC, Energy storage. In particular the energy harvesting used in charging of rechargeable batteries on site, low power electronic devices like traditional and super capacitors. Common energy harvesting systems include a lot of applications in many remote locations, distant locations, undersea where batteries and conventional power are not in used practically. In this paper the research that has been carried away in the field of energy scavenging of vibration analysis was discussed. In this scenario different type of energy harvesting methods like Thermo electric harvesting, Piezo electric energy harvesting, Pyro electric Energy Harvesting, PVDF Films are studied and focused on the method which is relatively used to enhance the performance and transformation efficiency in the analysis of vibrations. From all the above methods the piezo electric energy harvesting is the one which is suitable for analysis of vibration since the deflection of a specimen using piezo electric material results in an electric displacement. This electricity can be used in storage of power in batteries or used to power portable devices.