Input-dependent performance study of a nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvester

This work reports an input-dependent performance study of a nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvester with introduced magnetic interaction. The performances of the novel harvester with two external magnet arrays (I and II) are compared. Array II that has symmetric magnetic force yields better voltage output under frequency sweep test. As such, the energy harvesting capacity with Array II is performed under two vibration inputs (I and II). Under excitation Input I with periodic varying frequency, experimental results show that the nonlinear piezoelectric harvester outperforms its linear counterpart (no magnetic interaction) at alternating input bandwidths. A 104.5% improvement of root mean square voltage output (318.2% of power output) is obtained under excitation of 0.334 g (root mean square) and bandwidth of 7 Hz. No advantage is observed under Input II consisting of one principal and finite non-principal components. However, detailed study indicates that the amplitude of the principal component and the amplitude ratio of the non-principal components to the principal component in Input II are essential to maintain large-amplitude periodic motion. Our work provides useful insights into the design, characterization, and application of nonlinear energy harvesters with external magnetic forces based on a priori knowledge of input.