Nonlinear Dynamics and Energy Harvesting of a Two-Degrees-of-Freedom Electromagnetic Energy Harvester near the Primary and Secondary Resonances

Energy harvesting is a useful technique for various kinds of self-powered electronic devices and systems as well as Internet of Things technology. This study presents a two-degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) electromagnetic energy harvester that can use environment vibration and provide energy for small electronic devices. The proposed harvester consists of a cylindrical tube with two moving magnets suspended by a magnetic spring mechanism and a stationary coil. In order to verify the theoretical model, a prototype electromagnetic harvester was constructed and tested. The influence of key parameters, including excitation acceleration, response to a harmonic frequency sweep, and electromechanical coupling on the generated characteristics of the harvester, was investigated. The experimental and theoretical results showed that the proposed electromagnetic energy harvester was able to increase the resonance bandwidth (60-1200 rad/s) and output power (0.2 W). However, due to strong nonlinearity, an unstable region occurred near the main first resonance, which resulted from the Neimark-Sacker bifurcation.