• ETRI Journal
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.759-768
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• 2022

A novel energy harvesting technique that uses conducted electromagnetic interference as an energy source is presented. Conducted EMI generated from fluorescent light using a switched-mode power supply was measured and modeled as an equivalent voltage source. Two types of rectifier circuits-a bridge rectifier and a voltage doubler-were used as the harvesting devices for conducted EMI source. The matching networks were designed based on the equivalent model, and the harvested power was improved. The implemented energy harvester produces a regulated power over 68.9 mW and current over 15.1 mA while a regulated voltage can be selected between 3.3 V and 5 V. The proposed system shows the highest harvesting power indoor environment and can provide enough power for the Internet of Things devices.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.449-470
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• 2016

Energy harvesting is an emerging technique that extracts energy from surrounding environments to power low-power devices. For example, it can potentially provide sustainable energy for wireless sensing networks (WSNs) or structural control systems in civil engineering applications. This paper presents a comprehensive study on harvesting energy from earthquake-induced structural vibrations, which is typically of low frequency, to power WSNs. A macroscale pendulum-type electromagnetic harvester (MPEH) is proposed, analyzed and experimentally validated. The presented predictive model describes output power dependence with mass, efficiency and the power spectral density of base acceleration, providing a simple tool to estimate harvested energy. A series of shaking table tests in which a single-storey steel frame model equipped with a MPEH has been carried out under earthquake excitations. Three types of energy harvesting circuits, namely, a resistor circuit, a standard energy harvesting circuit (SEHC) and a voltage-mode controlled buck-boost converter were used for comparative study. In ideal cases, i.e., resistor circuit cases, the maximum electric energy of 8.72 J was harvested with the efficiency of 35.3%. In practical cases, the maximum electric energy of 4.67 J was extracted via the buck-boost converter under the same conditions. The predictive model on output power and harvested energy has been validated by the test data.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.252-257
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• 2015

This paper investigates the concept and implementation of an energy harvesting device using a ferrofluid sloshing movement to generate an electromotive force (EMF). Ferrofluids are often applied to energy harvesting devices because they have both magnetic properties and fluidity, and they behave similarly to a soft ferromagnetic substance. In addition, a ferrofluid can change its shape freely and generate an EMF from small vibrations. The existing energy harvesting techniques, for example those using piezoelectric and thermoelectric devices, generate minimal electric power, as low as a few micro-watts. Through flow analysis of ferrofluids and examination of the magnetic circuit characteristics of the resultant electromagnetic system, an energy harvester model based on an electromagnetic field generated by a ferrofluid is developed and proposed. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is demonstrated and its EMF characteristics are discussed based on experimental data.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.285-301
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• 2017

This paper presents the design and the application of a new self-powered hybrid electromagnetic damper that can harvest energy while mitigating the vibration of a structure. The damper is able to switch between an energy harvesting passive mode and a semi-active mode depending on the amount of energy harvested and stored in the battery. The energy harvested in the passive mode resulting from the suppression of vibration is employed to power up the monitoring and electronic components necessary for the semi-active control. This provides a hybrid control capability that is autonomous in terms of its power requirement. The proposed hybrid circuit design provides two possible options for the semi-active control: without energy harvesting and with energy harvesting. The device mechanism and the circuitry that can drive this self-powered electromagnetic damper are described in this paper. The parameters that determine the device feasible force-velocity region are identified and discussed. The effectiveness of this hybrid damper is evaluated through a numerical simulation study on vibration mitigation of a bridge stay cable under wind excitation. It is demonstrated that the proposed hybrid design outperforms the passive case without external power supply. It is also shown that a broader force range, facilitated by decoupled passive and semi-active modes, can improve the vibration performance of the cable.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.111-119
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• 2014

This paper describes the design and implementation of a electromagnetic energy harvesting mechanism and electronic circuit for autonomous emergency call system. This analysis results show the power output of the proposed harvesting mechanism and circuit up to max power output 5V and it can hold up to 65 msec of the power generation and 10msec of the RF transmission. Based on the these testing results, the implementation of autonomous emergency call device without battery power or any external power source is feasible.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.383-391
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• 2023

Energy harvesting in trams may become a prevalent source of passive energy generation due to the high density of vibrational energy, and this may help power structural health monitoring systems for the trams. This paper presents a broadband vibrational energy harvesting device design that utilizes a varied frequency from a tram vehicle using a 2 DOF vibrational system combined with electromagnetic energy conversion. This paper will demonstrate stepwise optimization processes to determine mechanical parameters for frequency tuning to adjust to the trams' operational conditions, and electromagnetic parameters for the whole system design to maximize power output. The initial optimization will determine 5 important design parameters in a 2 DOF vibrational system, namely the masses (m₁, m₂ (and spring constants (k₁, k₂, k₃). The second step will use these parameters as initial guesses for the second optimization which will maintain the ratios of these parameters and present electrical parameters to maximize the power output from this system. The obtained values indicated a successful demonstration of design optimization as the average power generated increased from 1.475 mW to 17.44 mW (around 12 times).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3735-3740
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• 2012

In this paper, the performance of power generation for the energy harvesting block with a combination of piezoelectric technology and electromagnetic technology among various energy harvesting technologies was investigated. The goal of this study is to evaluate on the applicability of our developed energy harvesting block into the field of urban & housing. First, we carried out a finite element vibration analysis and evaluated the performance of power generation for the multi-layer energy harvester at laboratory scale. Second, we described the features of our developed prototype module that includes amplification technologies to improve power density per module and evaluated the performance of power generation for the energy harvesting block in a variety of ways. Finally, we suggested the direction for the improvement of the energy harvesting block module.

• Ceramist
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.122-132
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• 2019

Wearable electronic devices with batteries must be lightweight, flexible and highly durable. Most importantly, the battery should be able to self-generate to operate the devices without having to be too frequently charged externally. An eco-friendly energy harvesting technology from various sources, such as solar energy, electromagnetic energy and wind energy, has been developed for a self-charging flexible battery. Although the energy harvesting from such sources are often unstable according to the surrounding environment, the energy harvesting from body movements and vibrations has been less affected by the surrounding environment. In this regard, flexible piezoelectric modules are the most attractive solution for this issue, because they convert mechanical energy to electrical energy and harvest energy from the human body motions. Among the various flexible piezoelectric modules, piezoelectric nanofibers have advantages when used as an energy harvester in wearable devices, due to their simple manufacturing process with good applicability to polymers and ceramics. This review focused on diverse flexible piezoelectric nanofibers and discusses their applications as various energy harvesting systems.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.379-392
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• 2011

This paper presents a multi-functional system, consisting of a magnetorheological (MR) damper and an electromagnetic induction (EMI) device, and its applications in stay cables. The proposed system is capable of offering multiple functions: (1) mitigating excessive vibrations of cables, (2) estimating cable tension, and (3) harvesting energy for wireless sensors used health monitoring of cable-stayed bridges. In the proposed system, the EMI device, consisting of permanent magnets and a solenoid coil, can converts vibration energy into electrical energy (i.e., induced emf); hence, it acts as an energy harvesting system. Moreover, the cable tension can be estimated by using the emf signals obtained from the EMI device. In addition, the MR damper, whose damping property is controlled by the harvested energy from the EMI device, can effectively reduce excessive cable vibrations. In this study, the multi-functionality of the proposed system is experimentally evaluated by conducting a shaking table test as well as a full-scale stay cable in a laboratory setting. In the shaking table experiment, the energy harvesting capability of the EMI device for wireless sensor nodes is investigated. The performance on the cable tension estimation and the vibration mitigation are evaluated using the full-scale cable test setup. The test results show that the proposed system can sufficiently generate and store the electricity for operating a wireless sensor node twice per day, significantly alleviate vibration of a stay cable (by providing about 20% larger damping compared to the passive optimal case), and estimate the cable tension accurately within a 2.5% error.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2008

Advances in low power design open the possibility to harvest energy from the environment to power electronic circuits. Electrical energy can be harvested from piezoelectric transducer. Piezoelectric materials can be used as mechanisms to transfer mechanical energy usually vibrating system into electrical energy that can be stored and used to power other devices. Micro- to milli-watts power can be generated from vibrating system. We developed definitive and analytical models to predict the power generated from a cantilever beam attached with piezoelectric transducer. Analytical models are pin-force method, enhanced pin-force method and Euler-Bernoulli method. Harmonic oscillations and random noise will be the two different forcing functions used to drive each system. It has been selected the best model for generating electric power based upon the analytical results obtained.