Probability analysis of asymmetric tristable energy harvesters

Abstract

The excellent energy harvesting performance of tristable energy harvesters with unique physical characteristics has been theoretically and experimentally verified. However, they are very sensitive to ambient vibration conditions which lead to different stable motion states. In particular, the response mechanism of the asymmetric tristable energy harvester is very complex because its potential wells are different with each other. In order to analyze the response mechanism, this paper originally presents probability analysis of the asymmetric tristable energy harvester. The influence of the uncertain excitation frequencies and amplitudes, system parameters on the response of the asymmetric tristable energy harvester is studied based on the Monte Carlo Simulation. The probabilities of vibrations within a single potential well, local interwell vibrations, and global interwell vibrations are calculated, and the variation laws between the probabilities and uncertainties are analyzed.