Collaborative Research: Understanding and Harnessing Complex Dynamics of Coupled Mechanical-Electrical System for an Improved Vibration Energy Harvesting

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The goal of this project is to acquire a fundamental understanding of physics in energy capturing devices where vibrational energy is converted into electrical power. The focus of the research will be on maximizing energy capture in these devices by formulating an integrated approach to leverage complex dynamics of vibration energy harvesting mechanisms and nonlinear electrical circuitry needed to capture the energy. The state-of-the-art formulations exploit the nonlinearities in dynamics of either mechanical side (with unrealistic circuits) or electrical side (with simple linear devices) but do not exploit them in an integrated manner. By providing accurate guidelines to design and deploy multimodal, nonlinear energy harvesting systems, this research will significantly promote the development of sustainable microelectronics, such as for wireless sensors in structural, mechanical, and biological monitoring applications in various industries. The outreach activities will utilize, in coordination will diversity-serving organizations, the interactive energy harvesting system demonstrators developed in this project to capture local students' interest in science and engineering subjects and higher education pursuits.While vibration energy harvesting is becoming more feasible, recent research outcomes show that it is critical that basic research issues be addressed before a high performance, high efficiency energy harvesting system can be realized and deployed for myriad applications. Through new, insightful analytical formulations supported by experimental investigations, these research outcomes will guide development of energy harvesting systems that empower future generations of self-sufficient microelectronics, such as the prolific wireless structural health monitoring sensor networks that are otherwise reliant on unsustainable energy resources. The research efforts will bridge the two research bases of device platform dynamics and electrical circuitry formulation to establish new analytical formulations that accommodate the collective device and electrical nonlinearities and multimodal dynamics. This will facilitate rich insight into their ideal integration. Experimental studies will validate the analytical findings and will investigate new piezoelectric energy harvesting systems identified by the theory that set electrical energy-capture benchmarks.