In this paper, we present a vibration energy harvester using magnetoelectric laminate composite and a springless spherical permanent magnet as a proof mass. The harvester utilizes a freely movable spherical permanent magnet to transform external vibration into a time varying magnetic field applied to the magnetoelectric transducer. The laminate composite consists of a Ni–Mn–Ga-based MSMA (magnetic shape memory alloy) element and a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) plate. A proof-of-concept harvester has been fabricated and characterized at various input accelerations and frequencies. A maximum open circuit voltage of 1.18 V has been obtained in response to a 3g vibration at 17 Hz with the fabricated device. Moreover, a maximum output voltage of 10.24 V and output power of 4.1 μW have been achieved on a 950 Ω load, when the fabricated energy harvester was mounted on a smartphone and shaken by hand.
We present an electromagnetic linear vibration energy harvester with an array of rectangular permanent magnets as a springless proof mass. Instead of supporting the magnet assembly with spring element, ferrofluid has been used as a lubricating material. When external vibration is applied laterally to the harvester, magnet assembly slides back and forth on the channel with reduced friction and wear due to ferrofluid, which significantly improves the long-term reliability of the device. Electric power is generated across an array of copper windings formed at the bottom of the aluminum housing. A proof-of-concept harvester has been fabricated and tested with a vibration exciter at various input frequencies and accelerations. For the device where 5 μL of ferrofluid was used for lubrication, maximum output power of 493 μW has been generated, which was 4.37% higher than that without ferrofluid. Long-term reliability improvement due to ferrofluid lubrication has also been verified. For the device with ferrofluid, 1.02% decrease of output power has been observed, in contrast to 59.73% decrease of output power without ferrofluid after 93,600 cycles.
This paper presents a vibration energy harvester using a springless spherical permanent magnet with a non-uniform mass distribution as a proof mass. The magnet has been designed to have the center of mass below the geometrical center, which generates a roly-poly-like motion in response to external vibrations and maintains the upright position. Utilizing this roly-poly-like magnet, proof-of-concept electromagnetic energy harvesters have been fabricated, tested and analyzed. An analytical model which explains the motion of the magnet assembly and resulting output voltage has been developed by finite element analysis of the magnetic field distribution and motion analysis of the magnet assembly. With the fabricated device, a maximum open-circuit voltage of 48.85 mV rms and an output power of 9.03 μW have been obtained in response to a 20 Hz sinusoidal vibration at 3 g acceleration.
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