Design of an electromagnetic-transducer energy harvester

Abstract

This paper presents the design and the manufacturing of an electromagnetic- transducer energy harvester. The design considers the coupling between the mechanical vibrating behaviour, generated by a base excitation, and the electromagnetic conversion of energy, which is aimed to produce the voltage across a load resistance. The design is based on some constraints, which are related to the characteristics of the shaker and aimed to obtain the best performance of the device. Current tests show the presence friction at low input levels, which is associated with the gearbox. The output voltage and the harvested power of the device are studied experimentally for different values of load. By increasing the value of the load from zero (short circuit) to high values (open circuit) the swing angle increases, while the harvested power presents a peak associated with the electrical damping. Also, harmonic tests are run at resonance for different levels of excitation to demonstrate the effect of the nonlinearity on the voltage and the harvested power. A nonlinear load resistance, is then introduced as part of future work. The aim is to try to increase the harvested power with respect to the linear load, at low level of excitation.