Electromagnetic rolling mass wave energy harvester for oceanic drifter applications

Ocean monitoring requirements have fomented the evolution of sensor platforms such as Lagrangian drifters, whose autonomy is a critical factor in the design process. Energy Harvesting (EH) has proven to be a sound option as an autonomous power source for sensor platforms. This paper deals with the design and simulation of a kinetic energy harvester (KEH) that captures energy from a drifter’s motion under wave excitation. This KEH is based on a rolling mass resonator with permanent magnets that oscillate with respect to a frame which includes a coil system. The induced current on the coil results from the relative motion of the rolling mass, whose natural frequency is tuned to match the drifter’s to achieve resonance. Preliminary simulations using OrcaFlex provide the motion vectors of the drifter, used to excite the KEH’s frame. A multi-body MSC.ADAMS model has been developed consisting of a simple DOF mass-spring-damper system that includes the frame motion and the electrical and electromagnetic models. Results provide an estimation of the power generated on a resistive load, showing 23 mJ harvested during a one-minute simulation.Postprint (author's final draft

Energy harvesting technologies for structural health monitoring of airplane components - a review

With the aim of increasing the efficiency of maintenance and fuel usage in airplanes, structural health monitoring (SHM) of critical composite structures is increasingly expected and required. The optimized usage of this concept is subject of intensive work in the framework of the EU COST Action CA18203 "Optimising Design for Inspection" (ODIN). In this context, a thorough review of a broad range of energy harvesting (EH) technologies to be potentially used as power sources for the acoustic emission and guided wave propagation sensors of the considered SHM systems, as well as for the respective data elaboration and wireless communication modules, is provided in this work. EH devices based on the usage of kinetic energy, thermal gradients, solar radiation, airflow, and other viable energy sources, proposed so far in the literature, are thus described with a critical review of the respective specific power levels, of their potential placement on airplanes, as well as the consequently necessary power management architectures. The guidelines provided for the selection of the most appropriate EH and power management technologies create the preconditions to develop a new class of autonomous sensor nodes for the in-process, non-destructive SHM of airplane components.The work of S. Zelenika, P. Gljušcic, E. Kamenar and Ž. Vrcan is partly enabled by using the equipment funded via the EU European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) project no. RC.2.2.06-0001: “Research Infrastructure for Campus-based Laboratories at the University of Rijeka (RISK)” and partly supported by the University of Rijeka, Croatia, project uniri-tehnic-18-32 „Advanced mechatronics devices for smart technological solutions“. Z. Hadas, P. Tofel and O. Ševecek acknowledge the support provided via the Czech Science Foundation project GA19-17457S „Manufacturing and analysis of flexible piezoelectric layers for smart engineering”. J. Hlinka, F. Ksica and O. Rubes gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the ESIF, EU Operational Programme Research, Development and Education within the research project Center of Advanced Aerospace Technology (Reg. No.: CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000826) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology. V. Pakrashi would like to acknowledge UCD Energy Institute, Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) centre Ireland, Strengthening Infrastructure Risk Assessment in the Atlantic Area (SIRMA) Grant No. EAPA\826/2018, EU INTERREG Atlantic Area and Aquaculture Operations with Reliable Flexible Shielding Technologies for Prevention of Infestation in Offshore and Coastal Areas (FLEXAQUA), MarTera Era-Net cofund PBA/BIO/18/02 projects. The work of J.P.B. Silva is partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/FIS/04650/2020. M. Mrlik gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic-DKRVO (RP/CPS/2020/003

Sensors Special Issue: “Vibration Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensors”

Mechanical vibrations occur in the operation of most technical systems [...

Experimental evaluation of Tusi couple based energy harvester for scavenging power from human motion

This paper deals with the experimental performance evaluation of the prototype of a novel inertial energy harvester based on Tusi couple mechanism. The harvester was developed as an autonomous power source for environments with very low frequency and magnitude of mechanical vibrations available. The experiments were conducted using human body during different activities as a source of mechanical excitation, with the prospect of using the harvester for powering up future wearable electronic devices. Four different locations on a single measurement specimen were picked for the harvester placement - back of the head, belt, wrist and ankle. Measurements in each location comprised of walking on a straight and level path at natural speed, walking up and down the stairs, jumping, running, and location-specific activities that were expected to provide significant output power. The measured average output power of the device with dimensions 50x50x20 mm on empirically selected 2 kΩ electrical load reached up to 6.5 mW, obtained with the device attached to the ankle while shaking the leg

Verified nonlinear model of piezoelectric energy harvester

Energy harvesting is an important topic today. Complex monitoring systems with many nodes need energy sources and vibration energy harvesters (VEHs) could be one type of them. Mathematical model of the VEH is necessary instrument to estimate possible harvested power. This paper deals with piezoelectric VEH in setting as cantilever beam with tip mass. Traditional linear model of this type of VEH is simple, however, it represents the VEH only in one operating point and in another one (another amplitude of excitation vibrations) it could return wrong results. The nonlinear model of VEH is introduced in this paper with its parameters estimation. The nonlinear model is compared with linear model and experiment to demonstrate difference between them in amplitude frequency characteristics. Finally, the average harvested power from harmonic vibrations is measured experimentally and compared with prediction from linear and nonlinear model

Sensors Special Issue: “Vibration Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensors”

Mechanical vibrations occur in the operation of most technical systems [...

Energy harvesting from passing train as source of energy for autonomous trackside objects

This paper deals with an energy harvesting review and analysis of an ambient mechanical energy on a trackside during a passing of a train. Trains provide very high level of vibration and deformation which could be converted into useful electricity. Due to maintenance and safety reasons a rail trackside includes sensing systems and number of sensor nodes is increased for modern transportation. Recent development of modern communication and ultra-low power electronics allows to use energy harvesting systems as autonomous source of electrical energy for these trackside objects. Main aim of this paper is model-based design of proposed vibration energy harvesting systems inside sleeper and predict harvested power during the train passing. Measurements of passing train is used as input for simulation models and harvested power is calculated. This simulation of proposed energy harvesting device is very useful for future design

Rolling mass energy harvester for very low frequency of input vibrations

This paper presents a novel design of a nonlinear kinetic energy harvester for very low excitation frequencies below 10 Hz. The design is based on a proof mass, rolling in a circular cavity in a Tusi couple configuration. This allows for an unconstrained displacement of the proof mass while maintaining the option of keeping the energy transduction element engaged during the whole cycle and thus reducing the required number of transduction elements. Both the presented model and the fabricated prototype of the device employ electromagnetic induction to harvest energy from low frequency and low magnitude vibrations that are typically associated with human movements. The prototype demonstrated an average power of 5.1 mW from a 1.3 g periodic acceleration waveform at 2.78 Hz. The highest simulated normalized power density reaches up to 230 μW/g2/cm3, but this depends heavily on the excitation conditions.</p

Energy Harvesting from Mechanical Shocks Using a Sensitive Vibration Energy Harvester

This paper deals with a unique principle of energy harvesting technologies. An energy harvesting device generates electric energy from its surroundings using some kind of energy conversion method. Therefore, the considered energy harvesting device does not consume any fuel or substance. The presented energy harvesting system is used forenergy harvesting of electrical energy from mechanical shocks. The presented energy harvesting system uses a very sensitive vibration energy harvester, which was developed for an aeronautic application at Brno University of Technology. This energy harvesting system is a complex mechatronic device, which consists of a precise mechanical part, an electromagnetic converter, power electronics (power management) and a load (e.g., wireless sensor). The very sensitive vibration energy harvester is capable of usingthe mechanical energy of mechanical shocks and it can harvest useful energy. This energy harvesting system is used with a wireless temperature sensor and measured results are presented in this paper