Multi-modal vibration energy harvesting approach based on nonlinear oscillator arrays under magnetic levitation

We propose a multi-modal vibration energy harvesting approach based on arrays of coupled levitated magnets. The equations of motion which include the magnetic nonlinearity and the electromagnetic damping are solved using the harmonic balance method coupled with the asymptotic numerical method. A multi-objective optimization procedure is introduced and performed using a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm for the cases of small magnet arrays in order to select the optimal solutions in term of performances by bringing the eigenmodes close to each other in terms of frequencies and amplitudes. Thanks to the nonlinear coupling and the modal interactions even for only three coupled magnets, the proposed method enable harvesting the vibration energy in the operating frequency range of 4.6-14.5 Hz, with a bandwidth of 190% and a normalized power of 20.2 mW cm(-3) g(-2).