A dimensionless parameter analysis of a cylindrical tube electromagnetic vibration energy harvester and its oscillator nonlinearity effect

This paper investigates a single degree of freedom oscillator in a cylindrical tube vibration energy harvester which is applicable in a low-frequency range. A duffing-type nonlinear dynamic differential equation of the oscillator was developed for the nonlinear analysis and solved by using the harmonic balance method in order to widen energy harvesting frequency bandwidth. The exploitation of nonlinear spring force interactions of the oscillator to enhance the generator’s performance is also presented in this paper. The dimensionless harvested power formula of the nonlinear mass-spring-damper system was derived, and a parameter study was conducted for the design optimization of the harvester. The main contribution of this paper is to establish a dimensionless performance analysis method of a nonlinear electromagnetic vibration energy harvester system and to disclose the effects of the parameters and nonlinearity of the system on the harvesting performance.