Increasing output power of electromagnetic vibration energy harvesters using improved Halbach arrays

This paper extends previously published studies into the performance of Halbach arrays for electromagnetic vibration energy harvesting. A Halbach array is a specific arrangement of permanent magnets that concentrates the magnetic field on one side of the array while cancelling the field to almost zero on the other side. This arrangement can improve electromagnetic coupling in a limited space. Previous research showed that although the Halbach array has higher magnetic field density compared to normal magnet layouts, its magnetic flux change rate is not necessarily high. Thus, output powers of energy harvesters with standard Halbach arrays are not always greater than those with normal magnet layouts. Two improvements to the Halbach arrays that lead to increased output power of electromagnetic vibration energy harvesters are presented in this paper. Test results showed that the proposed improved Halbach arrays can increase the output power of energy harvesters by a factor of seven compared to the standard Halbach array. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.