Enhanced Performance Of Magnetoelectric Energy Harvester Based On Compound Magnetic Coupling Effect

We have theoretically and experimentally demonstrated the greatly enhanced energy harvesting property of the specific magnetoelectric (ME) device, comprising a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever with a permanent magnet tip mass based on a compound interaction between the remanent magnetic moment of the magnet and a nonuniform alternating magnetic field. With appropriate positioning of the device, the coexistence of torque-mode and force-mode excitations leads to reinforced magneto-mechanical coupling, which subsequently yields improvements in both ME response and power conversion. In the experiments, a piezoelectric bimorph/magnet energy harvester was placed at a distance of 10 mm from a power line that was conducting a 50Hz, 10A current, and a maximum power of 2.136 mW was achieved via the optimal cooperative magnetic coupling mode. This output power is 7.8 x larger than that produced using the conventional torque mode. (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.