Wednesday, 11 October, 2023
Vibration energy harvesting is the conversion of ambient vibrations present in the environment into electrical energy. One of the main drivers for this exciting and growing area of research is the capability of harvesters to provide power to wireless microsystems and sensor arrays.
Vibration energy harvesters can exhibit complex nonlinear effects. The desired oscillations will be exhibited only for certain values of the system parameters, after which bifurcations occur and the behaviour becomes more complex. Optimal design of these energy harvesters requires a deep understanding of these system dynamics.
In our work we apply methods of nonlinear oscillator theory to analyse nonlinear effects in vibration energy harvesters. We derive fundamental performance limits and identify the operating parameters that allow maximum energy to be extracted. Our continuing work in this area seeks to advance our understanding over a broader range of harvesters, and to use this understanding to develop more efficient harvesters.
Our principal collaborators on this work are Professor Dimitri Galayko, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités, France, and Professor Philippe Basset, Université Paris Est / ESIEE Paris, France.