Micro-scale Energy Harvesting Research Articles

General model with experimental validation of electrical resonant frequency tuning of electromagnetic vibration energy harvesters

This paper presents a general model and its experimental validation for electrically tunable electromagnetic energy harvesters. Electrical tuning relies on the adjustment of the electrical load so that the maximum output power of the energy harvester occurs at a frequency which is different from the mechanical resonant frequency of the energy harvester. Theoretical analysis shows that for this approach to be feasible the electromagnetic vibration energy harvester’s coupling factor must be maximized so that its resonant frequency can be tuned with the minimum decrease of output power. Two different-sized electromagnetic energy harvesters were built and tested to validate the model. Experimentally, the micro-scale energy harvester has a coupling factor of 0.0035 and an untuned resonant frequency of 70.05 Hz. When excited at 30 mg, it was tuned by 0.23 Hz by changing its capacitive load from 0 to 4000 nF; its effective tuning range is 0.15 Hz for a capacitive load variation from 0 to 1500 nF. The macro-scale energy harvester has a coupling factor of 552.25 and an untuned resonant frequency of 95.1 Hz and 95.5 Hz when excited at 10 mg and 25 mg, respectively. When excited at 10 mg, it was tuned by 3.8 Hz by changing its capacitive load from 0 to 1400 nF; it has an effective tuning range of 3.5 Hz for a capacitive load variation from 0 to 1200 nF. When excited at 25 mg, its resonant frequency was tuned by 4.2 Hz by changing its capacitive load from 0 to 1400 nF; it has an effective tuning range of about 5 Hz. Experimental results were found to agree with the theoretical analysis to within 10%.

Experimental and theoretical studies on MEMS piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesters with mass loading

Experimental and theoretical investigations on micro-scale multi-morph cantilever piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesters (PZEHs) of the MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) are presented. The core body of a PZEH is a “multi-morph” cantilever, where one end is clamped to a base and the other end is free. This “fixed-free” cantilever system including a proof-mass (also called the end-mass) on the free-end that can oscillate with the multi-layer cantilever under continuous sinusoidal excitations of the base motion. A partial differential equation (PDE) describing the flexural wave propagating in the multi-morph cantilever is reviewed. The resonance frequencies of the lowest mode of a multi-morph cantilever PZEH for some ratios of the proof-mass to cantilever mass are calculated by either solving the PDE numerically or using a lumped-element model as a damped simple harmonic oscillator; their results are in good agreement (disparity≤0.5%). Experimentally, MEMS PZEHs were constructed using the standard micro-fabrication technique. Calculated fundamental resonance frequencies, output electric voltage amplitude V and output power amplitude P with an optimum load compared favorably with their corresponding measured values; the differences are all less than 4%. Furthermore, a MEMS PZEH prototype was shown resonating at 58.0±2.0Hz under 0.7g (g=9.81m/s2) external excitations, corresponding peak power reaches 63μW with an output load impedance Z of 85kΩ. This micro-power generator enabled successfully a wireless sensor node with the integrated sensor, radio frequency (RF) radio, power management electronics, and an advanced thin-film lithium-ion rechargeable battery for power storage at the 2011 Sensors Expo and Conference held in Chicago, IL. In addition, at 58Hz and 0.5, 1.0g excitations power levels of 32, and 128μW were also obtained, and all these three power levels demonstrated to be proportional to the square of the acceleration amplitude as predicted by the theory. The reported P at the fundamental resonance frequency f1 and acceleration G-level, reached the highest “Figure of Merit” [power density×(bandwidth/resonant frequency)] achieved amongst those reported in the up-to-date literature for high quality factor Qf MEMS PZEH devices.

Efficient Design of Micro-Scale Energy Harvesting Systems

Micro-scale energy harvesting has emerged as an attractive and increasingly feasible option to alleviate the power supply challenge in a variety of low power applications, such as wireless sensor networks, implantable biomedical devices, etc. While the basic idea and system composition of micro-scale energy harvesting systems have been explored and applied in a number of prototypes in recent years, designing micro-scale efficient energy harvesting systems require an in-depth understanding of various design factors and tradeoffs. This paper provides an overview of the area of micro-scale energy harvesting and addresses various challenges and considerations involved from circuit, architecture and system perspectives. This paper explicitly highlights several subtle but essential design differences that distinguish energy harvesting systems from battery-powered embedded systems. Moreover, we envision the necessity and importance of developing a simulation tool that enables design space exploration and quick performance evaluation at the early design phase. The practical issues, challenges and considerations for implementation of this envisaged simulation tool is discussed in this paper.

Electromechanical Modeling of the Low-Frequency Zigzag Micro-Energy Harvester

An analytical electromechanical model is proposed to predict the deflection, voltage, and the power output of a proposed low-frequency micro-harvesting structure. The high natural frequencies of the existing designs of micro-scale vibrational energy harvesters are serious drawbacks. A zigzag design is proposed to overcome this limitation. First, the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of the zigzag structure are calculated. The piezoelectric direct and reverse effect equations, together with the electrical equations, are used to relate the voltage output of the structure to the base vibrations magnitude and frequency. The closed-form solution of the continuous electromechanical vibrations gives the power output as a function of base acceleration spectrum. The usefulness of the design is proved by the significant increase of the power output from the same base accelerations, providing a method of designing a micro-scale harvester with low natural frequency. The optimal mechanical and electrical conditions for power generation are investigated through the case studies.