Abstract
Energy harvesting from rail vibration is a promising approach to solve the power supply problem in remote and off-grid areas. The major issue of current energy harvesting techniques and devices is the limited power generating capacity. In this paper, the authors put forward an elastic lever system to enhance the performance of an electromagnetic energy harvester. A vehicle-track coupling dynamics model is established to simulate the service condition of the energy harvester. The Power Amplification Factor (PAF), which is defined as the ratio between the output power with and without a lever system, is introduced to quantify the Enhanced Energy Harvester (EEH). It is found that the PAF can be greater than n2 with a leverage ratio of n. Simulation shows that the output power can be magnified by 430 times with an elastic lever system with a leverage ratio of 10. The amplification effect of the output power comes from two aspects, one is the magnifying effect of leverage itself and the other is the resonance effect. Additionally, it is found that a single EEH will increase the wheel-rail contact force slightly, which indicates the EEH is impractical for use as an approach for rail vibration reduction. Nevertheless, it will not have a significant negative effect on rail vibration.
Highlights
Rail transit is closely related to people’s lives
With the development of Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS), the power consumption of sensors drops to an ultra-low level [3], which brings the idea of a self-powered monitoring system closer to reality [4, 5]
Instead of using a rigid lever, this paper provides an elastic lever system to enhance the power generation capacity of the harvester based on the lever principle; it is referred to as an Enhanced Energy Harvester (EEH) hereafter
Summary
Rail transit is closely related to people’s lives. Numerous monitoring systems have been established to ensure the safety of passengers and goods on rails. The authors are aimed at powering the rail-side sensors in off-grid and remote areas, which are characterized by small scale dimensions MEMs (Micro Electromechanical Systems) sensors with lower power consumption It is well-known that there is a linear amplification of displacement, velocity, and acceleration for a rigid lever with a leverage ratio greater than 1. Two points are to be addressed in this paper: 1) the improvement of power generation capacity of the harvester with an elastic lever system; 2) the influence of the EEH on vehicle-track dynamics
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