Design and analysis of a pendulum‐based electromagnetic energy harvester using anti‐phase motion

Abstract

This study describes the design and analysis of an anti-phase pendulum motion-based electromagnetic energy harvester. The proposed energy harvester consists of a magnet-based pendulum, a coil-based pendulum, shaft, connecting rod, and housing. Two pendulums were connected in parallel, which can move in anti-phase motion, using a rotatable connecting rod. Mechanical, electrical, and magnetic behaviours were investigated through the simulations (MATLAB, ANSYS Maxwell) and experiments. The anti-phase pendulum motion can reduce the induction time. This phenomenon has the effect of improving the output voltage of the electromagnetic induction, which is experimentally verified. Experimental results demonstrated that the induction time is shortened by 21%, and the output power showed a 37% increase compared with the single-phase pendulum motion. The dependence of the output on the input conditions was also investigated extensively in terms of the frequency, displacement, mass, and electrical load resistance. The maximum output power of 247 μW was obtained at anti-phase pendulum motion. In addition, the proposed anti-phase motion phenomenon can be used effectively to improve the output voltage of an electromagnetic induction-based energy harvester.