Effect of Pendulum Parameters on Performance of Electromagnetic Energy Harvester

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of a vibration-based electromagnetic energy harvester with an attached pendulum. The pendulum is used to transform the horizontal harmonic motion of the complete system into the vertical motion of the magnetic oscillator. An electromechanical model of the coupled system is established for numerical simulation. Parametric studies are conducted subsequently on various pendulum mass and length configurations. The results indicate that the system with the natural frequency ratio of 1:2 has higher power outputs and wider frequency bandwidth as compared with other configurations. In the situation of natural frequency ratio of 1:2, higher power outputs can be achieved by an increase in the mass of the pendulum. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using the pendulum as a driver of vertical motion oscillator to harvest vibration energy from the horizontal excitation.