Interplay between electrical and mechanical domains in a high performance nonlinear energy harvester

This paper reports a comprehensive experimental characterization and modeling of a compact nonlinear energy harvester for low frequency applications. By exploiting the interaction between the electrical circuitry and the mechanical motion of the device, we are able to improve the power output over a large frequency range. This improvement is quantified using a new figure of merit based on a suitably defined 'power integral (P _f)' for nonlinear vibrational energy harvesters. The developed device consists of beams with fixed-guided configuration which produce cubic monostable nonlinearity due to stretching strain. Using a high efficiency magnetic circuit a maximum output power of 488.47 μW across a resistive load of 4000 Ω under 0.5g input acceleration at 77 Hz frequency with 9.55 Hz of bandwidth is obtained. The dynamical characteristics of the device are theoretically reproduced and explained by a modified nonlinear Duffing oscillator model.