A Self-adaptive and Self-Sufficient Energy Harvesting System

• Main Authors: Mario Mösch, Gerhard Fischerauer, Daniel Hoffmann
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: vibration energy harvesting; self-adaptive; self-sufficient; electromagnetic; frequency measurement; microgenerator
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/9/2519

Self-adaptive vibration energy harvesters convert the kinetic energy from vibration sources into electrical energy and continuously adapt their resonance frequency to the vibration frequency. Only when the two frequencies match can the system harvest energy efficiently. The harvesting of vibration sources with a time-variant frequency therefore requires self-adaptive vibration harvesting systems without human intervention. This work presents a self-adaptive energy harvesting system that works completely self-sufficiently. Using magnetic forces, the axial load on a bending beam is changed and thus the resonance frequency is set. The system achieves a relative tuning range of 23% at a center frequency of 36.4 Hz. Within this range, the resonance frequency of the harvester can be set continuously and precisely. With a novel optimized method for frequency measurement and with customized electronics, the system only needs 22 µW to monitor the external vibration frequency and is therefore also suitable for environments with low vibration amplitudes. The system was verified on a vibrational test bench and can easily be tailored to a specific vibration source.