A wideband vibration-based energy harvester

We present a new architecture for wideband vibration-based micro-power generators (MPGs). It replaces a linear oscillator with a piecewise-linear oscillator as the energy harvesting element of the MPG. A prototype of an electromagnetic MPG designed accordingly is analyzed analytically, numerically and experimentally. We find that the new architecture increases the bandwidth of the MPG during a frequency up-sweep, while maintaining the same bandwidth in a down-sweep. Closed-form expressions for the response of the new MPG as well as the up-sweep bandwidth are presented and validated experimentally. Simulations show that under random-frequency excitations, the new MPG collects more energy than the traditional MPG.