CAREER: Electromechanical Transduction of Vibratory Energy Harvesters in Random and Non-Stationary Environments

该学院早期职业发展（Career）项目奖为描述振动能量收集器在随机和非平稳激励下转导的物理基础提供了一个综合研究和教育活动的方案。概率论和非线性振动理论与计算技术和专门设计的实验模块相结合，以i)了解能量采集器对时变频率激励的响应，ii)表征其在随机宽带和窄带激励下的转导，以及iii)阐明非线性和双稳定性对实际激励下其性能的影响。研究任务与无数的教育活动密切相关，这些活动包括：1)一个创造性的本科探究项目，涉及创建一个“能量收集地毯”；2)一个名为“振动能量收集之旅”的推广计划，向高中学生和他们的老师介绍能量收集原理；3)广泛强调多样性和招募少数民族学生；4)开发新的研究生课程。成功完成该奖项的目标将为开发高效和变革性的振动能量采集器奠定基础，并提供必要的工具，用于长期被认为因其随机或非平稳性质而不切实际的激励源。这种收割机将能够广泛部署自供电健康监测传感器，从而避免灾难性的结构和机器故障（例如，2007年明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯附近的圣安东尼桥倒塌），并将减少我们对电池的依赖，因为电池的定期更换和充电构成了重大挑战和风险，特别是对远程安装的设备和生活在植入式医疗器械中的患者。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award provides a schema of integrated research and educational activities for delineating the physical underpinnings of vibratory energy harvesters' transduction under random and non-stationary excitations. Theories in probabilities and nonlinear vibrations are combined with computational techniques and specially designed experimental modules to i) understand the response of energy harvesters to time-varying frequency excitations, ii) characterize their transduction under random broad-band and narrow-band excitations, and iii) elucidate the influence of nonlinearities and bi-stabilities on their performance under realistic excitations. Research tasks are closely tied to myriad of educational activities that include i) a creative inquiry undergraduate project that involves the creation of an "energy harvesting carpet", ii) an outreach initiative called "Journey into Vibration Energy Harvesting" introducing energy harvesting principles to high school students and their teachers iii) extensive emphasis on diversity and recruitment of minority students, and iv) development of new graduate course offerings. Successful completion of this CAREER award's objectives will lay the foundation and provide the necessary tools to develop efficient and transformative vibratory energy harvesters for excitation sources long considered impractical due to their random or non-stationary nature. Such harvesters will enable the widespread deployment of self-powered health-monitoring sensors, thusly avoiding catastrophic structural and machine failures (e.g. the 2007 St. Anthony's bridge collapse near Minneapolis, Minn.), and will reduce our dependence on batteries whose regular replacement and recharging pose significant challenges and risks especially for remotely installed devices, and for patients living with implantable medical appliances.