Investigation of Mechanical Motion Amplification for Vibration Energy Harvesting

Vibration Energy Harvesting is being investigated for autonomous sensors and actuators that mainly utilize ambient and machine induced vibrations. Recently mechanical motion amplification is incorporated for improving power to weight ratio of vibration harvesters. The present study is motivated to investigate mechanical motion amplification characteristics with different configurations. The parameters investigated are motion amplification ratio, force transmissibility characteristics, weight of the electrical generator, effective damping coefficient achieved and linear nature of damping. Numerical analysis has been performed to compare important characteristics of device operating without amplification to that of with amplification with different configuration. The study has been concluded with comments on application of suitable type of amplification mechanism depending on weight/space constraints and desired effective damping coefficient.