Optimal Design of a Vibration Absorber-Harvester Dynamic System

Abstract

Vibration dynamic absorber is in use to reduce machinery vibrations. This paper presents a novel idea for using the mass-spring absorber as an energy harvester. The aim is to tune the absorber to cancel the machine vibration and produce maximum vibration of the absorber mass to act as an energy harvester. The main vibrating system is damped and assumed as a SDOF. A new frequency is defined called harvesting frequency at which the amplitude of the absorber mass vibration is maximum. It is shown that his frequency is dependent only on the mass ratio of the absorber and independent of the main system damping ratio. The optimal operation of the proposed system is investigated for damping ratio between 0.1 and 0.4 and mass ratio between 0.05 and 4.5. The absorber succeeds to eliminate completely the main system vibrations at a tuning condition and provides high vibration amplitude at the absorber mass at the new defined harvesting frequency..