Effects of white noise excitation on tristable piezoelectric energy harvesters with asymmetric potential wells

Subramanian Ramakrishnan, Md Raf E. Ul Shougat, Prasanth Sukumar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Vibration energy harvesters (VEH) convert the energy of ambient random vibrations to electrical power in applications including autonomous powering of small scale devices. Theoretically, a VEH is represented by a system of two coupled differential equations, one each for the mechanical degree of freedom and the electrical degree of freedom. The interaction between noise and nonlinearity (by design) in a VEH is yet to be fully explored. This is of potential interest in the emerging concept of VEH using nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) since stochastic effects assume greater significance in the smaller dynamical scales. Allied with the recent focus on tristable harvesters, we investigate several aspects of the influence of random excitation on harvested power. It is shown that the unique effects of white noise excitation when compared with deterministic excitation include: (1) increase in harvested power by up to 14.28 percent (2) the advantages of asymmetrically designed potentials being achieved at much lower excitation levels and (3) the threshold values for inter-well oscillations being altered in favor of higher harvested power. Together, the results indicate that the advantages of tristable harvesters are enhanced due to white noise excitation; a feature of potential significance in NEMS based harvesters.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2018 IEEE 13th Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference, NMDC 2018
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781538610169
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 8 2019
Event13th IEEE Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference, NMDC 2018 - Portland, United States
Duration: Oct 14 2018Oct 17 2018

Publication series

Name2018 IEEE 13th Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference, NMDC 2018

Conference

Conference13th IEEE Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference, NMDC 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPortland
Period10/14/1810/17/18

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 IEEE.

Keywords

  • Energy harvesting
  • NEMS
  • White noise

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