Energy Harvesting in a Coupled System Using Nonlinear Impact

Abstract

Energy harvesting from broadband excitation, such as aircraft noise, and low frequency excitation, such as human motion, has gained significant interest recently. Vibro-impact is one of the methods used to improve capability of the harvester by low to high frequency conversion. The present paper analyses the effect of vibro-impact within a coupled beam system. The system is base excited and a localised non-linearity is induced at the point of impact. Modal reduction techniques are applied to reduce the computational time. The localisation effect on the coupled beam system is performed by varying the system parameters, for example the amplitude of excitation, the clearance and stiffness between the beams.