Efficient broadband vibration energy harvesting based on tuned non-linearity and energy localization

In this letter, non-linearity and energy localization are experimentally tuned in an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester in order to enhance its output performances. The non-linear device consists of two moving magnets guided by elastic beams and coupled by a repulsive magnetic force. The mechanical non-linearity is introduced by considering large displacements of the beams and the energy localization is achieved by mistuning the mass of one of the moving magnets. The critical load resistance is determined experimentally in order to tune the non-linearity level and to drive the harvester beyond its critical amplitude. Consequently, the performances of the device, in terms of harvested power only from the perturbed dof oscillator and frequency bandwidth, are enhanced respectively up to 19.4% and 116% compared to the performances of the non-linear periodic system.