Bifurcation analysis and nonlinear dynamics of a capacitive energy harvester in the vicinity of the primary and secondary resonances

Hassen M Ouakad,Saber Azizi,Hadi Madinei,Javad Taghipour

doi:10.1007/s11071-022-07271-3

Hassen M Ouakad, Saber Azizi + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-022-07271-3

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Abstract

The objective of the present study is to examine the effect of nonlinearity on the efficiency enhancement of a capacitive energy harvester. The model consists of a cantilever microbeam underneath which there is an electret layer with a surface voltage, which is responsible for the driving energy. The packaged device is exposed to unwanted harmonic mechanical excitation. The microbeam undergoes mechanical vibration, and accordingly, the energy is harvested throughout the output electric circuit. The dynamic formulation accounts for nonlinear curvature, inertia, and nonlinear electrostatic force. The efficiency of the device in the vicinity of the primary and super-harmonic resonances is examined, and accordingly, the output power is evaluated. Bifurcation analysis is carried out on the dynamics of the system by detecting the bifurcations in the frequency domain and diagnosing their respective types. One of the challenging issues in the design and analysis of energy-harvesting devices is to broaden the bandwidth so that more frequencies are potentially accomodated within the amplification region. In this study, the effect of the nonlinearity on the bandwidth broadening, as well as efficiency improvement of the device, are examined. It is seen that as the base excitation amplitude increases, the vibration amplitude does also increase and accordingly the nonlinearity dominates. The super-harmonic resonance regions emerge and get bigger as the vibration amplitude increases, and pull-in gaps appear in the frequency response curves.

Highlights

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been focused in recent years due to their numerous advantages such as ease of installation, reduction in cost and weight, and elimination of wire connections [1]
An interesting and long-term solution to extend the operational time of WSNs is vibration energy-harvesting devices which convert the ambient vibrations into electrical energy to charge the batteries or replacing them
In the past few years, many researchers have focused on the dynamics of energyharvesting devices so that to enhance the efficiency of the energy harvester [1,2,3]

Summary

Introduction

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been focused in recent years due to their numerous advantages such as ease of installation, reduction in cost and weight, and elimination of wire connections [1]. Capacitive energyharvesting devices have been focused in the literature thanks to their ease of fabrication; as a major challenge, they require a voltage source to induce electric charges on the electrodes of the variable capacitor and start the conversion [3, 15,16,17,18]. Ngan Tran et al [21] reported a review on nonlinear techniques for performance enhancement of ambient vibration of energy harvesters. They reported the most important publications devoted to the effect of stochastic loading, internal resonance, being multidegree of freedom, mechanical stoppers, and parametric excitation, which lead to nonlinear behavior and enhance the efficiency of the energyharvesting device.

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Conclusion