An Energy Harvesting Scheme with Temperature Threshold Triggered Generation for Heat Event Autonomous Monitoring

This paper proposes a temperature threshold triggered energy harvester for potential application of heat-event monitoring. The proposed structure comprises an electricity generation cantilever and a bimetallic cantilever that magnetically attract together. When the structure is heated to a pre-set temperature threshold, the heat absorption induced bimetallic effect of the bimetallic cantilever will cause sufficient bending of the generation cantilever to get rid of the magnetic attraction. The action triggers the freed generation cantilever into resonance to piezoelectrically generate electricity, and the heated bimetallic cantilever dissipates heat to the environment. With the heat dissipated, the bimetallic cantilever will be restored to attract with the generation cantilever again and the structure returns to the original state. Under continual heating, the temperature threshold triggered cycle is repeated to intermittently generate electric power. In this paper, the temperature threshold of the harvester is modeled, and the harvester prototype is fabricated and tested. The test results indicate that, with the temperature threshold of 71 °C, the harvesting prototype is tested to generate 1.14 V peak-to-peak voltage and 1.077 μW instantaneous power within one cycle. The thermal harvesting scheme shows application potential in heat event-driven autonomous monitoring.

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Analysis of magneto rheological elastomers for energy harvesting systems

International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics ◽

10.3233/jae-209350 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 64 (1-4) ◽

pp. 439-446

Author(s):

Gildas Diguet ◽

Gael Sebald ◽

Masami Nakano ◽

Mickaël Lallart ◽

Jean-Yves Cavaillé

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Energy Harvesting ◽

Shear Strain ◽

Magnetic Induction ◽

Magnetic Particles ◽

Homogeneous Magnetic Field ◽

Electrical Signal ◽

Harvesting Systems ◽

Dc Bias ◽

Magneto Rheological

Magneto Rheological Elastomers (MREs) are composite materials based on an elastomer filled by magnetic particles. Anisotropic MRE can be easily manufactured by curing the material under homogeneous magnetic field which creates column of particles. The magnetic and elastic properties are actually coupled making these MREs suitable for energy conversion. From these remarkable properties, an energy harvesting device is considered through the application of a DC bias magnetic induction on two MREs as a metal piece is applying an AC shear strain on them. Such strain therefore changes the permeabilities of the elastomers, hence generating an AC magnetic induction which can be converted into AC electrical signal with the help of a coil. The device is simulated with a Finite Element Method software to examine the effect of the MRE parameters, the DC bias magnetic induction and applied shear strain (amplitude and frequency) on the resulting electrical signal.

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Simply supported FPEDs connected by springs for broadband energy harvesting

International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics ◽

10.3233/jae-209323 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 64 (1-4) ◽

pp. 201-210

Author(s):

Yoshikazu Tanaka ◽

Satoru Odake ◽

Jun Miyake ◽

Hidemi Mutsuda ◽

Atanas A. Popov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Harvesting ◽

Evaluation Method ◽

Energy Harvester ◽

Vibrational Energy ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Vibration Energy ◽

Theoretical Evaluation ◽

Vibration Energy Harvester ◽

Polyvinylidene Difluoride ◽

Simply Supported

Energy harvesting methods that use functional materials have attracted interest because they can take advantage of an abundant but underutilized energy source. Most vibration energy harvester designs operate most effectively around their resonant frequency. However, in practice, the frequency band for ambient vibrational energy is typically broad. The development of technologies for broadband energy harvesting is therefore desirable. The authors previously proposed an energy harvester, called a flexible piezoelectric device (FPED), that consists of a piezoelectric film (polyvinylidene difluoride) and a soft material, such as silicon rubber or polyethylene terephthalate. The authors also proposed a system based on FPEDs for broadband energy harvesting. The system consisted of cantilevered FPEDs, with each FPED connected via a spring. Simply supported FPEDs also have potential for broadband energy harvesting, and here, a theoretical evaluation method is proposed for such a system. Experiments are conducted to validate the derived model.

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