Influence of the motion of a spring pendulum on energy-harvesting devices

Abstract

Energy harvesting is becoming more and more essential in the mechanical vibration application of many devices. Appropriate devices can convert the vibrations into electrical energy, which can be used as a power supply instead of ordinary ones. This study investigated a dynamical system that correlates with two devices, namely a piezoelectric device and an electromagnetic one, to produce two novel models. These devices are connected to a nonlinear damping spring pendulum with two degrees of freedom. The damping spring pendulum is supported by a point moving in a circular orbit. Lagrange’s equations of the second kind were utilized to obtain the equations of motion. The asymptotic solutions of these equations were acquired up to the third approximation using the approach of multiple scales. The comparison between the approximate and the numerical solutions reveals high consistency between them. The steady-state solutions were investigated, and their stabilities were checked. The influences of excitation amplitudes, damping coefficients, and the different frequencies on energy-harvesting device outputs are examined and discussed. Finally, the nonlinear stability analysis of the modulation equations is discussed through the stability and instability ranges of the frequency response curves. The work is significant due to its real-life applications, such as a power supply of sensors, charging electronic devices, and medical applications.