Investigation of a hybrid piezo-electromagnetic energy harvester

Abstract

Abstract A hybrid energy harvester combining piezoelectric and electromagnetic transduction mechanisms is designed to scavenge vibration energy. The system comprises of a cantilever beam, a piezoelectric harvester and a magnetic mass hung through a spring at the free end. The beam with piezoelectric harvests electrical energy due to the strain induced in the piezoelectric patch. The hung mass oscillates in and out a solenoid to harvest energy due to electromagnetic induction. The system can generate power from any vertically oscillating vibrating host structure. This paper studies the power harvested from the hybrid harvester under harmonic excitation using experimental and analytical evaluations. Comparisons are made with the standalone piezoelectric and electromagnetic harvester under the same excitation environment. The study shows that the present hybrid harvester can harvest energy at a broad range of frequencies. Furthermore few parametric studies are carried out for understanding the device performance. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed hybrid energy harvester is compared with the existing hybrid energy harvester.