• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.461-465
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• 2011

Traditional magnetostrictive/piezoelectric laminate composites are generally in the regular geometries such as rectangles or disks. To explore properties of the irregular geometry magnetostrictive/piezoelectric transducer in the fundamental resonant frequency, a step dumb-bell shaped Magnetoelectric (ME) transducer is presented in this study. Both analytical and experimental investigations are carried out for the dumb-bell shaped transducer in the fundamental frequency. Comparing with the traditional rectangular transducer, the theory shows the resonant frequency of dumb-bell shaped transducer is reduced 31%, and the experiment gives the result of that is 37% which is independent of dc magnetic fields. The ratio of magnetoelectric voltage coefficient (MEVC) between the dumb-bell shaped and rectangular shaped transducers in theory is 66% comparing with that of in experiment is varying from 140% to 33% when the dc field is increased from 0 Oe to 118 Oe.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.271-275
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• 2011

This paper proposes a magnetoelectric (ME) composite transducer structure consisting of a magnetostrictive H-type Fe-Ni fork substrate and piezoelectric PZT plates. The fork composite structure has a higher ME voltage coefficient compared to other ME composite structures due to the higher quality (Q) factor. The ME sensitivity of the fork structure reaches 12 V/Oe (i.e., 150 V/cm Oe). The fork composite with two PZT plates electrically connected in series exhibits over 5 times higher ME voltage coefficient than the output of the rectangle structure in the same size. The experiment shows the composite of a Fe-Ni fork substrate and PZT plates has a significantly enhanced ME voltage coefficient and a higher ME sensitivity relative to the prior sandwiched composite laminates. By the use of a lock-in amplifier with 10 nV resolution, this transducer can detect a weak magnetic field of less than $10^{-12}$ T. This transducer can also be designed for a magnetoelectric energy harvester due to its passive high-efficiency ME energy conversion.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.150-156
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• 2011

Magnetoelectric (ME) transducers were originally intended for magnetic field sensors but have recently been used in vibration energy harvesting. In this paper, a new broadband vibration energy harvester has been designed and fabricated to be efficiently applicable over a range of source frequencies, which consists of two cantilever beams, two magnetoelectric (ME) transducers and a magnetic circuit. The effects of the structure parameters, such as the non-linear magnetic forces of the ME transducers and the magnetic field distribution of the magnetic circuit, are analyzed for achieving the optimal vibration energy harvesting performances. A prototype is fabricated and tested, and the experimental results on the performances show that the harvester has bandwidths of 5.6 Hz, and a maximum power of 0.25 mW under an acceleration of 0.2 g (with g = $9.8\;ms^2$).

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.211-215
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• 2011

The dynamic magnetostriction characteristics of an Fe-based nanocrystalline FeCuNbSiB alloy are investigated as a function of the dc bias magnetic field. The experimental results show that the piezomagnetic coefficient of FeCuNbSiB is about 2.1 times higher than that of Terfenol-D at the low dc magnetic bias $H_{dc}$ = 46 Oe. Moreover, FeCuNbSiB has a large resonant dynamic strain coefficient at quite low Hdc due to a high mechanical quality factor, which is 3-5 times greater than that of Terfenol-D at the same low $H_{dc}$. Based on such magnetostriction characteristics, we fabricate a new type of transducer with FeCuNbSiB/PZT-8/FeCuNbSiB. Its maximum resonant magnetoelectric voltage coefficient achieves ~10 V/Oe. The ME output power reaches 331.8 ${\mu}W$ at an optimum load resistance of 7 $k{\Omega}$ under 0.4 Oe ac magnetic field, which is 50 times higher than that of the previous ultrasonic-horn-substrate composite transducer and it decreases the size by nearly 86%. The performance indicate that the FeCuNbSiB/PZT-8/FeCuNbSiB transducer is promising for application in highly efficient magnetoelectric energy conversion.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.480-486
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• 2021

Magnetoelectric (ME) composite is composed of a piezoelectric material and a magnetostrictive material. Among various ME structures, 2-2 type layered ME composites are anticipated to be used as high-sensitivity magnetic field sensors and energy harvesting devices especially operating at its resonance modes. Rosen type piezoelectric transducer using piezoelectric material is known to amplify a small electrical input voltage to a large electrical output voltage. The output voltage of these Rosen type piezoelectric transducers can be further enhanced by modifying them into ME composite structures. Herein, we fabricated Rosen type ME composites by sandwiching Rosen type PMN-PZT single crystal between two Ni layers and studied their ME coupling. However, the voltage step-up ratio at the resonance frequency was found to be smaller than the value calculated with α_ME value. The ATILA FEA (Finite Elements Analysis) simulation results showed that the position of the nodal point was changed with the presence of a magnetostrictive layer. Thus, while designing a Rosen type ME composite with high performance in a resonant driving situation, it is necessary to optimize the position of the nodal point by optimizing the thickness or length of the magnetostrictive layer.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.579-591
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• 2015

This paper investigates a magnetoelectric (ME) vibration energy harvester that can scavenge energy in arbitrary directions in a plane as well as wide working bandwidth. In this harvester, a circular cross-section cantilever rod is adopted to extract the external vibration energy due to the capability of it's free end oscillating in arbitrary in-plane directions. And permanent magnets are fixed to the free end of the cantilever rod, causing it to experience a non-linear force as it moves with respect to stationary ME transducers and magnets. The magnetically coupled cantilever rod exhibits a nonlinear and two-mode motion, and responds to vibration over a much broader frequency range than a standard cantilever. The effects of the magnetic field distribution and the magnetic force on the harvester's voltage response are investigated with the aim to obtain the optimal vibration energy harvesting performances. A prototype harvester was fabricated and experimentally tested, and the experimental results verified that the harvester can extract energy from arbitrary in-plane directions, and had maximum bandwidth of 5.5 Hz, and output power of 0.13 mW at an acceleration of 0.6 g (with $g=9.8ms^{-2}$).