Energy harvesting potential of tuned inertial mass electromagnetic transducers

The demand for developing renewable energy technologies has been growing in today\u27s society. As one of promising renewable energy sources, large-scale energy harvesting from structural vibrations employing electromagnetic transducers has recently been proposed and considerable effort has been devoted to increase the power generation capability. In this paper, we introduce the mechanism of a tuned inertial mass electromagnetic transducer (TIMET), which can absorb vibratory energy more efficiently by tuning the parameters to adjust the system. Then we propose a new vibratory energy harvester with the TIMET and determine the parameter values for the device with a simple static admittance (SA) control law to maximize the energy harvested from a stationary stochastic disturbance. To investigate the energy harvesting potential of the TIMET further, the performance-guaranteed (PG) control and the LQG control proposed in the literature are applied as well. Then the numerical simulation studies are carried out and the effectiveness of the proposed energy harvester is examined by comparing the traditional electromagnetic transducers

Experimental characterization and performance improvement evaluation of an electromagnetic transducer utilizing a tuned inerter

This research reports on the experimental verification of an enhanced energy conversion device utilizing a tuned inerter called a tuned inertial mass electromagnetic transducer (TIMET). The TIMET consists of a motor, a rotational mass, and a tuning spring. The motor and the rotational mass are connected to a ball screw and the tuning spring interfaced to the ball screw is connected to the vibrating structure. Thus, vibration energy of the structure is absorbed as electrical energy by the motor. Moreover, the amplified inertial mass can be realized by rotating relatively small physical masses. Therefore, by designing the tuning spring stiffness and the inertial mass appropriately, the motor can rotate more effectively due to the resonance effect, leading to more effective energy generation. The authors designed a prototype of the TIMET and conducted tests to validate the effectiveness of the tuned inerter for electromagnetic transducers. Through excitation tests, the property of the hysteresis loops produced by the TIMET is investigated. Then a reliable analytical model is developed employing a curve fitting technique to simulate the behavior of the TIMET and to assess the power generation accurately. In addition, numerical simulation studies on a structure subjected to a seismic loading employing the developed model are conducted to show the advantages of the TIMET over a traditional electromagnetic transducer in both vibration suppression capability and energy harvesting efficiency

Feasibility of sliding base isolation for rubble stone masonry buildings in the Himalayan Mountain range

This paper studied the feasibility of a sliding base isolation layer to be used in rubble stone masonry buildings in rural areas in the Himalayan Mountain range to provide robust protection to important building like schools against strong earthquakes. In this paper, we carried out on-site investigations, quasi-static tests, and shaking table tests focusing on constructability as well as isolation performance. From the results of the feasibility study, the combination of styrofoam, concrete slab, and grease was found to be the most feasible to be used as the upper element, the lower element, and the lubricant, respectively, in the sliding isolation layer. The key features of the present sliding base isolation layer are: 1) the use of the materials that exist in rural mountain areas or those that can be easily transported from the neighboring towns and cities and 2) ease of construction and minimal change from the current construction practice. From the shaking table tests, we identified the conditions, e.g., grease amount, grease type, normal stress at the interface, and roughness of concrete slab surface, to achieve dynamic friction coefficients ranging from 0.08 to 0.16, suitable for sliding base isolation