A Low-Cost Electromagnetic Generator for Vibration Energy Harvesting

This paper reports on a low-cost high-performance generator, which is based on a hybrid approach that uses polymethyl methalcrylate and electrodeposited foil to convert mechanical vibration into electrical power based on Faraday's law of magnetic induction. The generator is equipped with four wire-wound micro-coils that can be used separately or connected together depending on the voltage and electrical power requirement of the application. The fabricated generator which has a harvester effectiveness of 55.5% was able to supply a 500-Ω load with 422 μW of electrical power. Investigations have revealed that the utilization factor of the mechanical resonator can be used as an indicator of the lifetime of the generator with respect to fatigue analysis. The reported generator weighs only 12.7 g and is a good candidate for applications where lightweight generators are important.