The dependence on electrical power and the advancement of new technology devices has driven new research in the area of alternative energy sources. As electronic devices become smaller and more portable, the use of conventional batteries have become less practical. This has lead to an increase in the study of vibration-based energy harvesting and its use as an alternative source of energy. Previously, linear systems have been developed to harvest energy efficiently when the mechanical oscillator is tuned to the appropriate excitation frequency. This tuning requirement limits the application to a narrow bandwidth of frequencies and puts significant demand on properly designing the system to match a specific excitation. By incorporating non-linearities in the design and analysis of energy harvesting devices, an increase in the performance of the harvester and versatilely of application can be achieved.
This work investigates the role of non-linearities in the mechanical component on the performance of energy harvesting systems, and their advantages compared to a typical linear harvesting system. In particular, an energy harvester that incorporates a piezoelectric element as the attachment and exhibits strong non-linear behavior is analyzed through numerical and analytical simulations, as well as an experimental validation of the simulations. The harvester is subjected to an excitation of ambient vibrations of either a periodic impulsive or harmonic manner. Strong non-linearities are obtained by either the geometric design of the system or by attaching non-linear springs to the primary mass of a spring-mass-damper system. Under certain operating conditions, the resulting unique dynamic behavior of the non-linear system increases the efficiency in comparison to a single degree-of-freedom linear energy harvester.
The use of strongly non-linear energy harvesters as vibration absorbers was also investigated. Vibration absorbers have been shown to be efficient over a wide bandwidth of frequencies when multiple non-linear masses are attached to the primary mass of a linear oscillator. In this work, the conventional vibration absorber described by [21], is enhanced by the insertion of an energy harvester in series with with the non-linear spring. The results indicate an increase in the efficiency of the vibration absorber, while simultaneously creating a proficient energy harvester.