Energy harvesting from ambient low-frequency magnetic field using magneto-mechano-electric composite cantilever

A magneto-mechano-electric (MME) composite cantilever for energy harvesting from ambient low-frequency magnetic field has been investigated in this study. The MME composite cantilever is made of a piezoelectric bimorph with NdFeB magnets attached at its tip. The properties of the MME composite cantilever based energy harvester were theoretically predicted by using the equivalent circuit model. The experimental results show that the maximum power density for excitations at the short- and open-circuit resonance frequencies (<100 Hz) is 11.73 mu W/Oe(2) cm(3), which is one order of magnitude higher than that of previously reported magnetoelectric energy harvester. The research has proved the potential application of the composite cantilever for harvesting ambient low-frequency magnetic field energy. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.