A vibration energy harvesting device with bidirectional resonance frequency tunability

Vinod R. Challa, M. G. Prasad, Yong Shi, Frank T. Fisher

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

676 Scopus citations

Abstract

Vibration energy harvesting is an attractive technique for potential powering of wireless sensors and low power devices. While the technique can be employed to harvest energy from vibrations and vibrating structures, a general requirement independent of the energy transfer mechanism is that the vibration energy harvesting device operate in resonance at the excitation frequency. Most energy harvesting devices developed to date are single resonance frequency based, and while recent efforts have been made to broaden the frequency range of energy harvesting devices, what is lacking is a robust tunable energy harvesting technique. In this paper, the design and testing of a resonance frequency tunable energy harvesting device using a magnetic force technique is presented. This technique enabled resonance tuning to 20% of the untuned resonant frequency. In particular, this magnetic-based approach enables either an increase or decrease in the tuned resonant frequency. A piezoelectric cantilever beam with a natural frequency of 26Hz is used as the energy harvesting cantilever, which is successfully tuned over a frequency range of 22-32Hz to enable a continuous power output 240-280νW over the entire frequency range tested. A theoretical model using variable damping is presented, whose results agree closely with the experimental results. The magnetic force applied for resonance frequency tuning and its effect on damping and load resistance have been experimentally determined.

Original languageEnglish
Article number015035
JournalSmart Materials and Structures
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2008

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