Effects of introducing nonlinear components for a random excited hybrid energy harvester

This work is mainly devoted to discussing the effects of introducing nonlinear components for a hybrid energy harvester under random excitation. For two different types of nonlinear hybrid energy harvesters subjected to random excitation, the analytical solutions of the mean output power, voltage and current are derived from Fokker–Planck (FP) equations. Monte Carlo simulation exhibits qualitative agreement with FP theory, showing that load values and excitation’s spectral density have an effect on the total mean output power, piezoelectric (PE) power and electromagnetic power. Nonlinear components affect output characteristics only when the PE capacitance of the hybrid energy harvester is non-negligible. Besides, it is also demonstrated that for this type of nonlinear hybrid energy harvesters under random excitation, introducing nonlinear components can improve output performances effectively.