Wide-spectrum energy harvesting out of colored Lévy-like fluctuations, by monostable piezoelectric transducers

Abstract

This work aims to optimize the overall performance of a model oscillator, as an energy harvester of Lévy-like mesoscopic fluctuations through piezoelectric conversion. As a further step in the description of a realistic harvesting device we consider a monostable Woods-Saxon oscillator, which can interpolate between square well and harmonic-like behaviors. We study the interplay between the potential shape and the noise's spectrum and statistics. The dependence of the power output on the parameters determining those features indicates the directions in which the former can be increased. © Copyright EPLA, 2012.