abstract
- We report the investigation of an energy harvesting system composed of coupled resonators with the magnetostrictive material Galfenol (FeGa). A coupled system of meso-scale (1-10 cm) cantilever beams for harvesting vibration energy is described for powering and aiding the performance of low-power wireless sensor nodes. Galfenol is chosen in this work for its durability, compared to the brittleness often encountered with piezoelectric materials, and high magnetomechanical coupling. A lumped model, which captures both the mechanical and electrical behavior of the individual transducers, is first developed. The values of the lumped element parameters are then derived empirically from fabricated beams in order to compare the model to experimental measurements. The governing equations of the coupled system lead to a system of differential equations with all-to-all coupling between transducers. An analysis of the system equations reveals different patterns of collective oscillations. Among the many different patterns, a synchronous state appears to yield the maximum energy that can be harvested by the system. Experiments on coupled system shows that the coupled system exhibits synchronization and an increment in the output power. Discussion of the required power converters is also included. © 2014 SPIE.