Reversible Nonlinear Energy Harvester Tuned by Tilting and Enhanced by Nonlinear Circuits

Nonlinear vibration is capable of effectively extending the frequency bandwidth of energy harvesters. Either hardening or softening nonlinearity has been used in various designs to achieve broad-bandwidth energy harvesting. In this paper, we propose a new method to achieve reversible hysteretic responses, i.e., both hardening and softening nonlinear responses, mechanically without additional magnetic interactions. This tunable nonlinearity endows energy harvesters with a great adaptability to environment. The proposed energy harvester is composed of a flexural center and two mass blocks, supported by a pair of elastic rods that are fixed on a vibration base. Different nonlinear responses are invoked by tilting the fixed-fixed elastic rods at different angles. A lumped-parameter model is developed to simulate the nonlinear electromechanical coupling system, and that is analytically solved by virtue of the high-order perturbation technique. The dynamic responses under different frequencies and accelerations are analytically characterized and compared well with the experimental data measured from a fabricated prototype. Furthermore, a nonlinear conditioning circuit (self-powered series synchronized switch harvesting on inductor) is constructed and tested with the proposed nonlinear energy harvester, with which the performance is enhanced about 200% for both resistive loads and capacitive loads.