A multi-stable energy harvester: Dynamic modeling and bifurcation analysis

A theoretical investigation is conducted on the dynamic and energetic characteristics of a multi-stable bimorph cantilever energy harvester that uses magnetic attraction effect. The multi-stable energy harvester under study is composed of a bimorph cantilever beam with soft magnetic tip and two externally fixed permanent magnets that are arranged in series. With this configuration, the magnetic force and the moment that are exerted on the cantilever tip tend to be highly dependent on the magnetic field induced by the external magnets. Such an energy harvester can possess multi-stable potential functions, ranging from mono-stable to penta-stable. The mechanism that governs the formation of this multi-stability is thoroughly identified and examined thorough a bifurcation analysis performed on the system's equilibrium solutions. From this analysis, it is found that the transitions between these multi-stable states occur through very complicated bifurcation scenarios that include degenerate pitchfork bifurcations and mergers of pitchfork bifurcations or saddle-node bifurcations. Bifurcation set diagram is obtained, which is composed of five separate parametric regions, from mono- to penta-stability. The resulting stability map satisfactorily describes the multi-stable characteristics of the present energy harvester. In addition, the dynamic and energetic characteristics of the present multi-stable energy harvester are more thoroughly examined using its potential energy diagrams and a series of numerical simulations, and the obtained results are compared with those for the equivalent bi-stable cases. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.