Properties of chaotic vibration energy harvester: comparison of numerical results with experiments

Energy-harvesting devices have been developed for the use of voltage sources in low-powered wireless sensors. Vibration energy harvesters generate electric power from ambient vibration of constructions such as bridges, tunnel walls, and power pylons. Vibration energy harvesters are required to have high power generation efficiency over a wide vibration frequency. This paper presents a vibration energy harvester in which closed magnetic circuits are formed aiming at high efficiency and double-well potential is formed to have chaotic vibration to realize wide frequency-range power generation. In particular, the conditions for emergence of chaotic vibration are clarified based on numerical analysis and experiments.