Multi-Stable Magnetic Spring-Based Energy Harvester Subject to Harmonic Excitation: Comparative Study and Experimental Evaluation

The work presented here investigates a unique design platform for multi-stable energy harvesting using only interaction between magnets. A solid cylindrical magnet is levitated between two stationary magnets. Peripheral magnets are positioned around the casing of the energy harvester to create multiple stable positions. Upon external vibration, kinetic energy is converted into electric energy that is extracted using a coil wrapped around the casing of the harvester. A prototype of the multi-stable energy harvester is fabricated. Monostable and bistable configurations are demonstrated and fully characterized in static and dynamic modes. Compared to traditional multi-stable designs the harvester introduced in this work is compact, occupies less volume, and does not require complex circuitry normally needed for multi-stable harvesters involving piezoelectric elements. At 2.5g [m/s2], results from experiment show that the bistable harvester does not outperform the monostable harvester. At this level of acceleration, the bistable harvester exhibits intrawell motion away from jump frequency. Chaotic motion is observed in the bistable harvester when excited close to jump frequency. Interwell motion that yields high displacement amplitudes and velocities is absent at this acceleration.

An Energy-Regenerative Suspension System

This paper presents an energy-regenerative suspension device that is able to harvest some of the wasted energy that is generated in a suspension system. For a traditional road vehicle suspension system, shock absorbers are mainly dissipating energy to reduce vibration. The dissipated energy may be collected to improve the fuel economy of road vehicles. In this research, CarSim and Simulink are used to simulate and determine the harvestable energy in a conventional shock absorber under different operating conditions. A conceptual energy-regenerative absorber is designed and tested using a fabricated prototype. A variable speed motor is implemented to adapt the change of stroke length of a mechanism due to the various road roughness. Instruments, e.g., laser tachometer, pressure gauge, ammeter, voltmeter, and stopwatch, are used to collect data. The simulation and prototype testing results indicate that the proposed energy-regenerative suspension device could harvest dissipated energy to improve vehicle fuel economy.

Development of Equations of Motion for a Stewart Platform Under Prescribed Mount Motion

Analytical equations of motion are critical for real-time control of translating manipulators, which require precise positioning of various tools for their mission. Specifically, when manipulators mounted on moving robots or vehicles perform precise positioning of their tools, it becomes economical to develop a Stewart platform, whose sole task is stabilizing the orientation and crude position of its top table, onto which various precision tools are attached. In this paper, analytical equations of motion are developed for a Stewart platform whose motion of the base plate is prescribed. To describe the kinematics of the platform, the moving frame method, presented by one of authors [1,2], is employed. In the method the coordinates of the origin of a body attached coordinate system and vector basis are expressed by using 4 × 4 frame connection matrices, which form the special Euclidean group, SE(3). The use of SE(3) allows accurate description of kinematics of each rigid body using (relative) joint coordinates. In kinetics, the principle of virtual work is employed, in which system virtual displacements are expressed through B-matrix by essential virtual displacements, reflecting the connection of the rigid body system [2]. The resulting equations for fixed base plate reduce to those for the top plate, obtained by the Newton-Euler method. A main result of the paper is the analytical equations of motion in matrix form for dynamics analyses of a Stewart platform whose base plate moves. The control applications of those equations will be deferred to subsequent publications.

Modeling Stablization of Crane and Ship by Gyroscopic Control Using the Moving Frame Method

Norwegian industries are constantly assessing new technologies and methods for more efficient and safer production in the aqua cultural, renewable energy, and oil and gas industries. These Norwegian offshore industries share a common challenge: to install new equipment and transport personnel in a safe and controllable way between ships, farms and platforms. This paper deploys the Moving Frame Method (MFM) to analyze the motion induced by a crane and controlled by a gyroscopic inertial device mounted on a ship. The crane is a simple two-link system that transfers produce and equipment to and from barges. An inertial flywheel — a gyroscope — is used to stabilize the barge during transfer. The MFM describes the dynamics of the system using modern mathematics. Lie group theory and Cartan’s moving frames are the foundation of this new approach to engineering dynamics. This, together with a restriction on the variation of the angular velocity used in Hamilton’s principle, enables an effective way of extracting the equations of motion. This project extends previous work. It accounts for the dual effect of both the crane and the stabilizing inertial device. Furthermore, this work allows for buoyancy and motor induced torques. Furthermore, this work displays the results in 3D on cell phones. The long-term results of this work leads to a robust 3D active compensation method for loading/unloading operations offshore. Finally, the interactivity between the crane and the stabilizing gyro anticipates the impending time of artificial intelligence when machines, equipped with on-board CPU’s and IP addresses, are empowered with learning modules to conduct their operations.

Toward a Contactless Hydrokinetic Energy Harvester: A Computational Magnetic Field Estimation

Magnetic levitation (maglev) concepts are applied to a variety of industries such as the automotive, aerospace, or energy in order to accomplish different tasks: suspension and propulsion in maglev trains, rocket propulsion and spacecraft attitude control, centrifuge of nuclear reactors. In this paper, maglev is implemented in environmentally friendly hydrokinetic energy harvesting to achieve contactless bearing, thus, minimizing friction and improving efficiency. Generally, maglev systems exhibit higher efficiency and reduced maintenance while providing longer lifetime and higher durability when appropriate engineering design and control are applied. A Flow Induced Oscillation (FIO) energy-harvesting converter is considered in this work. To minimize friction in the support of the cylinder in FIO (vortex induced vibrations and galloping) due to high hydrodynamic drag, a maglev system is proposed. In the proposed configuration, a ferromagnetic core (element 1), of known dimensions, is considered under the effects of an externally imposed magnetic field. A second ferromagnetic element, of smaller dimensions, is then placed adjacent to the previous considered core. This particular configuration results in a non-homogenous magnetic field for element 1, caused by dimensional disparity. Specifically, the magnetic flux does not follow a linear path from the ferromagnetic core to element 2. A general electromagnetic analysis is conducted to derive an analytical form for the magnetic field of element 1. Subsequent numerical simulation validates the obtained formula. This distinct expression for the magnetic field is valuable towards calculating the magnetic energy of this specific configuration, which is essential to the design of the FIO energy harvesting converter considered in this work.

Period Motions and Stability in a Nonlinear Spring Pendulum

In this paper, period-1 motions varying with excitation frequency in a periodically forced, nonlinear spring pendulum system are predicted by a semi-analytic method. The harmonic frequency-amplitude for periodical motions are analyzed from the finite discrete Fourier series. The stability of the periodical solutions are shown on the bifurcation trees as well. From the analytical prediction, numerical illustrations of periodic motions are given, the comparison of numerical solution and analytical solution are given.

Optimal Vibration Control and Energy Scavenging Using Collocated Nonlinear Energy Sinks and Piezoelectric Elements

This paper presents an optimal design for a system comprising multiple nonlinear energy sinks (NESs) and piezoelectric-based vibration energy harvesters attached to a free–free beam under shock excitation. The energy harvesters are used for scavenging vibration energy dissipated by the NESs. Grounded and ungrounded configurations are examined, and the systems parameters are optimized globally to maximize the dissipated energy by the NESs. The performance of the system was optimized using a dynamic optimization approach. Compared to the system with only one NES, using multiple NESs resulted in a more effective realization of nonlinear energy pumping particularly in the ungrounded configuration. Having multiple piezoelectic elements also increased the harvested energy in the grounded configuration relative to the system with only one piezoelectric element.

Shape Memory Alloy Based Rotational Actuator

Due to recent technological developments in advanced materials, the integration of shape memory alloys (SMAs) into new machines and mechanisms is becoming more common and it offers tremendous potential for the future. Using currently available properties of common SMA materials, the paper’s contribution is to: Study through dynamic simulation the potential offered by SMA springs to serve as the basis for rotary actuation. In the process, the SMA displaces a rocker arm rotating about an axis to induce rotational motion of a driveshaft, in effect converting a force into rotational motion. When embedded in a cycle with heating & cooling phases and a resetting mechanism, unidirectional rotational motion can be achieved. Regarding heating and cooling cycles, forced air convection is used to reduce thermal cycle cooling and is calculated via transient thermal analyses. Using typical parameter values for the representative design considered, through forced air convection, cooling cycles are reduced from approximately 30 seconds (natural) to 5.5 seconds (forced) and as a result, a complete system cycle can occur in 10 seconds, with the applied inertial load of 2.0 kg-m2. Using MATLAB and Simulink, a nonlinear 3rd order dynamic system model was created and simulations were performed. One complicating factor concerned angular limits and the necessary thermal cycling, which was solved through appropriate sequencing and resetting of integrators for different phases. Simulation results for the design considered show that a peak torque of 1.72 N-m is possible and that relatively smooth motion and approximately constant torque output is also possible through the addition of a few more rocker arm systems, properly commutated. Lastly, the design analysis framework and results may inspire future realization of actual devices.

Development of Soft Body Rescue-Bot Using 3D Printing

The use of robots in search and rescue operations has increased dramatically over the years. A robot is able to detect survivors of a dangerous situation, like an earthquake, without putting the operator’s life in danger as well. There are many types of robots being developed for search and rescue purposes, but a smaller and more durable robot will be beneficial for designs in the future. The purpose of our project is to research and design a soft body robot that is capable of locating individuals in search and rescue operations. The robot has a design similar to a car which will allow the control of the robot to be easy to use. It has been designed with a self-righting mechanism in case the vehicle flips over or gets stuck. The robot has a small size so that it can fit through small holes that a person could not enter. The robot will be capable of traversing over uneven terrain, including small ledges through an actuator. The actuator will be designed to cause the robot to spring over or on a ledge. According to simulations from SolidWorks, the wheels of the robot can also withstand a drop from 2 meters. The design and material of the wheels will be further tested and changed to increase the performance of the wheel. Once a design has been chosen, the body of the robot will be designed. Current designs of ground rescue robots will be studied in order to attain a better understanding on what designs work best. The hope is to make the robot more durable than previous designs using a soft material as the outer shell of the robot. A soft material should allow the robot to be able to absorb impacts from falling debris or unexpected falls. Once the design of the robot has been optimized, a prototype will be created. The next step will be to code the robot so that it can be controlled with a remote. The current proposal is to use an Arduino board to send and receive signals from that remote. Then a camera will be attached to the robot which will allow the operator to see where the robot is and where the survivors are located.

Steering Strategy for a Multi-Axle Wheeled Vehicles

This paper presents a mathematical model for multi-axle steering vehicles operating on level ground. For transporting heavy loads vehicles with multiple axles are required. Apart from added complexity steering of multiple axle for turning is a big challenge. Due to type of load being carried a single unit vehicle is sometimes preferred. The mathematical model of a six axle vehicle with 4-axle steering system is developed. Simulations at various track radii, vehicle speeds and steering ratios (ratio between the first, second, fifth and sixth steering axle) are performed. Axle steering angles and wheel slip angles are evaluated. The steering ratio requirements vary with vehicle speed and turn radius. A configuration is selected for better performance for a wider range. The resulting steering ratios show good vehicle maneuverability, stability and steering efficiency.