Experimental characterization and performance improvement evaluation of an electromagnetic transducer utilizing a tuned inerter

Abstract

This research reports on the experimental verification of an enhanced energy conversion device utilizing a tuned inerter called a tuned inertial mass electromagnetic transducer (TIMET). The TIMET consists of a motor, a rotational mass, and a tuning spring. The motor and the rotational mass are connected to a ball screw and the tuning spring interfaced to the ball screw is connected to the vibrating structure. Thus, vibration energy of the structure is absorbed as electrical energy by the motor. Moreover, the amplified inertial mass can be realized by rotating relatively small physical masses. Therefore, by designing the tuning spring stiffness and the inertial mass appropriately, the motor can rotate more effectively due to the resonance effect, leading to more effective energy generation. The authors designed a prototype of the TIMET and conducted tests to validate the effectiveness of the tuned inerter for electromagnetic transducers. Through excitation tests, the property of the hysteresis loops produced by the TIMET is investigated. Then a reliable analytical model is developed employing a curve fitting technique to simulate the behavior of the TIMET and to assess the power generation accurately. In addition, numerical simulation studies on a structure subjected to a seismic loading employing the developed model are conducted to show the advantages of the TIMET over a traditional electromagnetic transducer in both vibration suppression capability and energy harvesting efficiency.

Wave flume testing of an oscillating-body wave energy converter with a tuned inerter

“…(20) and (21) are derived, the power generation can be evaluated by Eq. (23). The details of this derivation are not described in this paper.…”

“…Originally, in this TI mechanism, fluid viscous dampers, which convert vibratory energy to heat, were supposed to be used. While, the authors utilized a motor as the viscous damping component, proposing the tuned inertial mass electromagnetic transducer (TIMET) [22,23] to convert vibratory energy to electrical energy. So far, applications of this device not only to WECs but also to civil structures [24,25] have been investigated and the effectiveness was shown through numerical simulation studies.…”

Parametric optimization of electromagnetic tuned inerter damper for structural vibration suppression

“…In addition, based on the idea of the TVMD, Asai et al 23–25 proposed the tuned inertial mass electromagnetic transducer, consisting of a spring, an electromagnetic transducer, and an inerter developed by a ball screw mechanism, to enhance the energy‐harvesting performance of the electromagnetic transducer, and also investigated its potential in structural control for civil buildings. Also, his group 26 designed a prototype of the device and developed a reliable theoretical model with a curve fitting method via experimental tests where the energy loss of the device was considered. Zhu et al 27 proposed a new prototype of the electromagnetic inertial mass damper for simultaneous vibration control and energy harvesting, whose model considered the nonlinear behavior of the device and was established via the equal energy dissipation rule.…”

Modeling a helical fluid inerter system with time‐invariant mem‐models

“…There are several types of inerters: the rack and pinion inerter, 1 the ball screw inerter, 3 the fluid inerter, [4][5][6][7] and the electromagnetic inerter. 8,9 There are three main application areas, vehicle suspensions systems, 3,[10][11][12][13][14][15] train suspension systems, 16,17 and civil engineering systems. 2,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] The optimal performance of inerter-based vibration isolation systems has been considered by several authors; see, for example, the discussions in previous studies.…”