A magnetically levitated vibration energy harvester

In this paper a novel electromagnetic vibration type energy harvester that uses a diamagnetic levitation system is conceptualized, designed, fabricated, and tested. The harvester uses two diamagnetic plates made of pyrolytic graphite between which a cylindrical magnet levitates passively. Two thick cylindrical coils, placed in grooves which are engraved in the pyrolytic graphite plates, are used to convert the mechanical energy into electrical energy efficiently. The geometric configurations of the coils are selected based on the field distribution of the magnet to enhance the efficiency of the harvester. A thorough theoretical analysis is carried out to compare with experimental results. At an input power of 103.45 μW and at a frequency of 2.7 Hz, the harvester generated a power of 0.74 μW with a system efficiency of 0.72%. Both theoretical and experimental results show that this new energy harvesting system can capture low frequency broadband spectra.