Vibro-impact energy harvester with optimal kinetic and elastic energies absorption

Abstract

Many vibrating energy harvesters convert elastic or strain energy to electricity, while the energy of the structure is mainly distributed between potential and kinetic energies. The focus of the present work is on maximizing energy harvesting of the structure through the optimal energy absorption of its mechanical energy. The collision mechanism is used for this purpose. Primary piezoelectric harvester on the main structure and secondary piezoelectric harvester utilizing impact force in the form of harvesting beam used for this purpose. The results show that there is a significant increase in energy absorption and bandwidth. The effect of different geometrical and mechanical parameters on the system's efficiency is investigated. Experimental validation is presented to evaluate the theoretically obtained results. The presented mechanism gives up to 80 times improvement in the harvested power.