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Nonlinear Analysis and Performance of Electret-Based Microcantilever Energy Harvesters

Author

Listed:
  • Bashar Hammad

    (Department of Mechanical and Maintenance Engineering, German Jordanian University, Amman 11180, Jordan)

  • Hichem Abdelmoula

    (Gowell International, Houston, TX 77041, USA)

  • Eihab Abdel-Rahman

    (Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

  • Abdessattar Abdelkefi

    (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88001, USA)

Abstract

An energy harvester composed of a microcantilever beam with a tip mass and a fixed electrode covered with an electret layer is investigated when subject to an external harmonic base excitation. The tip mass and fixed electrode form a variable capacitor connected to a load resistance. A single-degree-of-freedom model, derived based on Newton’s and Kirshoff’s laws, shows that the tip mass displacement and charge in the variable capacitor are nonlinearly coupled. Analysis of the eigenvalue problem indicates the influence of the electret surface voltage and electrical load resistance on the harvester linear characteristics, namely the harvester coupled frequency and electromechanical damping. Then, the frequency–response curves are obtained numerically for a range of load resistance, electret voltage and base excitation amplitudes. A softening nonlinear effect is observed as a result of decreasing the load resistance and increasing the electret voltage. It is found that there is an optimal electret voltage with the highest harvested electrical power. Below this optimal value, the bandwidth is very small, whereas the bandwidth is large when the electret voltage is above this optimal value. In addition, it is noted that for a certain excitation frequency, the harvested power decreases or increases as a function of electrical load resistance when the coupled frequency is closer to short- or open-circuit frequency, respectively. However, when the coupled frequency is between the short-circuit and open-circuit frequencies, the harvested power has an optimal resistance with the highest power. Increasing the excitation amplitude to raise the harvested power could be accompanied with dynamic pull-in instability and/or softening behavior depending on the electrical load resistance and electret voltage. However, large softening behavior would prevent the pull-in instability, increase the level of the harvested power, and broaden the bandwidth. These observations give a deeper insight into the behavior of such energy harvesters and are of great importance to the designers of electrostatic energy harvesters.

Suggested Citation

  • Bashar Hammad & Hichem Abdelmoula & Eihab Abdel-Rahman & Abdessattar Abdelkefi, 2019. "Nonlinear Analysis and Performance of Electret-Based Microcantilever Energy Harvesters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-26, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:22:p:4249-:d:284665
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ghavami, Mahyar & Azizi, Saber & Ghazavi, Mohammad Reza, 2018. "On the dynamics of a capacitive electret-based micro-cantilever for energy harvesting," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 967-976.
    2. Yildirim, Tanju & Ghayesh, Mergen H. & Li, Weihua & Alici, Gursel, 2017. "A review on performance enhancement techniques for ambient vibration energy harvesters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 435-449.
    3. Siddique, Abu Raihan Mohammad & Mahmud, Shohel & Heyst, Bill Van, 2017. "A review of the state of the science on wearable thermoelectric power generators (TEGs) and their existing challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 730-744.
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