Design and experimental investigation of a magnetically coupled vibration energy harvester using two inverted piezoelectric cantilever beams for rotational motion

Highlights: • A magnetically coupled two-degree-of-freedom harvester for rotation is proposed. • The electromechanical coupling model is developed and validated experimentally. • The harvester can generate high voltage at low rotating speeds. • The harvester can harvest vibration energy in multiple frequency bands. - Abstract: Energy can be harvested from rotational motion for powering wireless autonomous electronic devices. The paper presents a magnetically coupled two-degree-of-freedom vibration energy harvester for rotary motion applications. The design consists of two inverted piezoelectric cantilever beams whose free ends point to the rotating shaft. The centrifugal force of the inverted cantilever beam is beneficial to producing large amplitude in a low speed range. The electromechanical coupling dynamical model is developed by the energy method from Hamilton's principle and validated experimentally. The experimental results indicate that the presented harvester is suitable for low speed rotation and can harvest vibration energy in multiple frequency bands. The first and second resonant behaviors of voltage can be obtained at 420 r/min and 550 r/min, and the average output powers are 564 μW and 535.3 μW, respectively.