Energy harvesting from vibrations with a nonlinear oscillator

In this paper we present a nonlinear electromagnetic energy harvesting device that has a broadly resonant response. The nonlinearity is generated by a particular arrangement of magnets in conjunction with an iron-cored stator. We show the resonant response of the system to both pure-tone excitation and narrow-band random excitation. In addition to the primary resonance, the super-harmonic resonances of the harvester are also investigated and we show that the corresponding mechanical up-conversion of the excitation frequency may be useful for energy harvesting. The harvester is modeled using a Duffing-type equation and the results compared to the experimental data.</jats:p