Abstract
Abstract Vibration energy harvesting (VEH) is a promising alternative for powering wireless electronics in many practical applications. Ambient vibration energy in the surrounding space of a target application often involves an inescapable randomness in the exciting vibrations, which may lead to deterioration of the expected power gains due to insufficient tuning and limited optimal designs. Stochastic resonance (SR) is a concept that has recently been considered for exploiting this randomness toward improving power generation from vibrating systems, based on the coexistence of near-harmonic vibrations with broadband noise excitations in a variety of practical mechanical systems. This paper is concerned with the optimal conditions for SR in vibration energy harvesters, exploring the frequently neglected effect of realistic architectures of the electrical circuit on the system dynamics and the achievable power output. A parametric study is conducted using a numerical path integration (PI) method to compute the response probability density functions (PDFs) of vibration energy harvesters, focusing on the effect of standard electrical components; namely, a load resistor, a rectifier, and a capacitor. It is found that the conditions for SR exhibit a nonlinear dependence on the weak harmonic excitation amplitude. Moreover, the modified nonlinear dissipation properties introduced by the rectifier and the capacitor lead to a tradeoff between the power output and the nonconducting dynamics that is essential in order to determine optimal harvesting designs.
Highlights
In recent years, Vibration Energy Harvesting (VEH) has attracted significant interest in diverse research communities as a potential alternative power source for remote wireless small electronics
In order to track the establishment of stochastic resonance, we monitor the evolution of bi-directional crossings from one potential well to the other
This paper has demonstrated the effect of the electrical load of a vibration energy harvester on the manifestation of stochastic resonance and the corresponding implications for harvested power
Summary
Vibration Energy Harvesting (VEH) has attracted significant interest in diverse research communities as a potential alternative power source for remote wireless small electronics. The normalised generic mathematical models that describe the dynamics of each of these transduction options present significant similarities, in terms of the optimisation of the electric circuit This has allowed many researchers to study both systems under an archetypal model (see for example [5]), and the results of this paper are extendable to each of the major transduction methods as long as the normalised parameters are properly interpreted. Numerical results of the nonlinear oscillator’s mean crossing rates over the potential well barrier and the corresponding power output are shown, based on the individual joint response PDFs. the major conclusions of this paper are summarised in the end
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