Print Email Facebook Twitter Vibration energy harvesting: Optimal non-linear motion Title Vibration energy harvesting: Optimal non-linear motion Author Ter Mors, B.M. Contributor Tolou, N. (mentor) Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering Department Precision and Microsystems Engineering Programme Mechatronic System Design Date 2015-06-18 Abstract An increased amount of work is done towards opti- mizing the mechanical design of vibrational energy harvesters in order to cope with varying ambient conditions. Here the performance of a piezoelectric energy harvester with varying non-linear spring characteristics is modelled and experimentally veri- fied, determining the optimal non-linear motion for various operating conditions. A positive, bi-stable (negative) and balanced (zero) spring stiffness with end-of-stroke stiffening effect is achieved through static balancing of the energy harvesting device. Results show that a zero stiffness system generates a higher power output for a wide range of input conditions due to its increased range of motion without suffering from a minimal energy threshold typically seen in multi-stable energy harvesters. The numeric model accurately predicts key features of the harvester performance for different stiffness settings, providing a valuable tool in non-linear energy harvester design. Subject energyharvestingvibrationmotionnon-linear behaviouroptimal non-linearityzero stiffnessstiffness tuningbalanced mechanismoperating conditionsbroadbandlow-frequency To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:94adad4f-6044-488f-b06a-a4fdf084745a Embargo date 2025-12-31 Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights (c) 2015 Ter Mors, B.M. Files file embargo until 2025-12-31