Energy Harvesting from a Micro-System with Circular Bistable Potential Due to Magnets

Abstract

This work analyzes an energy harvesting system made of a beam or an arm possessing a magnet at one end and moving in a circular trajectory on which two magnets are diametrically positioned. The beam is submitted to the effects of two types of excitation. The first one acts when the beam is in a prescribed angle interval and the second one is a time periodic external excitation. The generated mechanical potential energy due to the magnets is presented and discussed. The conditions for complete rotation are obtained. They depend on the external excitation amplitude and system parameters. The resulting types of motion which take place are presented. The bifurcation diagrams plotted versus different control parameters display different dynamical behaviors including chaos. The power variation in a resistive load is presented versus the value of the resistance, the amplitude of excitation and that of the magnet strength. When the magnets have strengths of the same sign, it is found that the power increases with that strength. This is an interesting result since it indicates the increase of power generated thanks to the presence of the magnets.