Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from Low-Frequency Vibrations Based on Magnetic Plucking and Indirect Impacts

This work proposes a mono-axial piezoelectric energy harvester based on the innovative combination of magnetic plucking and indirect impacts, e.g., impacts happening on the package of the harvester. The harvester exploits a permanent magnet placed on a non-magnetic mass, free to move within a predefined bounded region located in front of a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever equipped with a magnet as the tip mass. When the harvester is subjected to a low-frequency external acceleration, the moving mass induces an abrupt deflection and release of the cantilever by means of magnetic coupling, followed by impacts of the same mass against the harvester package. The combined effect of magnetic plucking and indirect impacts induces a frequency up-conversion. A prototype has been designed, fabricated, fastened to the wrist of a person by means of a wristband, and experimentally tested for different motion levels. By setting the magnets in a repulsive configuration, after 50 s of consecutive impacts induced by shaking, an energy of 253.41 μJ has been stored: this value is seven times higher compared to the case of harvester subjected to indirect impacts only, i.e., without magnetic coupling. This confirms that the combination of magnetic plucking and indirect impacts triggers the effective scavenging of electrical energy even from low-frequency non-periodical mechanical movements, such as human motion, while preserving the reliability of piezoelectric components.