Harvesting mechanical vibrations energy using nonlinear electromagnetic minigenerators - a survey of concepts and problems

The state of knowledge in the field of conversion of energy of mechanical vibrations into electrical energy using nonlinear electromagnetic generators is presented. The principle of operation of the considered converters is based on the Faraday law. The electromotive force is induced by the relative movement of the coil or permanent magnets under impact of externally applied vibrations. In order to diminish the disadvantages of conventional generators, namely the narrow frequency bandwidth, in recent years the nonlinear systems were introduced that exhibit the nonlinear resonance phenomenon. Broadening the frequency bandwidth, in which the power generated by the system is relatively high, is realized via introduction of nonlinear force into system kinematics. Designing such systems becomes a big challenge. Based on thorough survey of recent publications as well as on own expertise in the field, the work compares a few concepts of nonlinear electromechanical minigenerators in term of their functional characteristics and design problems. Sample calculations of frequency characteristics using time- and frequency-domain models are presented.

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Opracowanie ze środków MNiSW w ramach umowy 812/P-DUN/2016 na działalność upowszechniającą naukę (zadania 2017).