Tuning of nonlinear vibration via topology variation and its application in energy harvesting

A topology variation method for the tuning of nonlinear vibration of planar spring was proposed and experimentally validated, which exhibited great potential for the application of energy harvesting by broadening the response bandwidth of the device. According to the numerical simulation and experimental results of all the three typical topological configurations, the topological scheme with inclined straight shape could provide the best nonlinearity. When this method was applied to the energy harvesting, the prototype device demonstrated a bandwidth of 28 Hz @ 180 Hz. It is concluded that the topological variation methodology could be efficient for the performance optimization of the energy harvester. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3676661]