Compliant bistable mechanism for low frequency vibration energy harvester inspired by auditory hair bundle structures

Abstract

This paper presents a bio-inspired mechanism for the performance enhancement of piezoelectric power generation in vibration energy harvesting. A compliant bistable mechanism for vibration energy harvesting was explored based on the negative stiffness inspired by the auditory hair bundle structures. The proposed mechanism consists of a compliant, four-bar linkage system to mimic the hair bundle structure inside an inner ear. Our initial prototype energy harvester demonstrates that the compliant bistable mechanism featuring negative stiffness outperforms the conventional vibration energy harvester in the infra-low frequency range (1–10 Hz).