A Study On Energy Harvesting Through The Use Of Electromagnetic Dampers In Motion Control Schemes

In recent years, there is a trend in most fields toward more environmentally friendly products and processes. This trend toward sustainable living is often dubbed the "Green Revolution". Because the Green Revolution is concerned with environmentally friendly ways of energy production, and structural engineering often has the task of controlling and dissipating energy, the logical step would be to unite the two concepts. This study investigates the use of the electromagnetic damper as an energy harvesting device in multiple damping schemes. It is shown that the use of the electromagnetic damper in a tuned mass damper scheme produces the most available energy to be harvested.

There has been a trend in structural design toward energy efficient design and motion based design. The strategy of motion based design is controlling the movement of structures to meet certain dynamic response requirements by damping the structure. Structural damping dissipates the energy of external loads internally within the structure. A simple idea is to connect the two design strategies to control the motion of a structure while harvesting this dissipated energy by transducing it to electrical energy via passive electromagnetic damping. This study will attempt to determine the feasibility of using passive electromagnetic damping to control the motion and harvest the energy of damping of large scale structures.

Shock & Vibration, Aircraft/Aerospace, Energy Harvesting, Volume 9: Proceedings of the 33rd IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics, 2015, the ninth volume of ten from the Conference brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Shock & Vibration, Aircraft/Aerospace , Energy Harvesting, including papers on: Energy Harvesting Adaptive Support Shock Calibration Operating Data Applications

Electromagnetic vibration transducers are seen as an effective way of harvesting ambient energy for the supply of sensor monitoring systems. Different electromagnetic coupling architectures have been employed but no comprehensive comparison with respect to their output performance has been carried out up to now. Electromagnetic Vibration Energy Harvesting Devices introduces an optimization approach which is applied to determine optimal dimensions of the components (magnet, coil and back iron). Eight different commonly applied coupling architectures are investigated. The results show that correct dimensions are of great significance for maximizing the efficiency of the energy conversion. A comparison yields the architectures with the best output performance capability which should be preferably employed in applications. A prototype development is used to demonstrate how the optimization calculations can be integrated into the design–flow. Electromagnetic Vibration Energy Harvesting Devices targets the designer of electromagnetic vibration transducers who wishes to have a greater in-depth understanding for maximizing the output performance.

The transformation of vibrations into electric energy through the use of piezoelectric devices is an exciting and rapidly developing area of research with a widening range of applications constantly materialising. With Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting, world-leading researchers provide a timely and comprehensive coverage of the electromechanical modelling and applications of piezoelectric energy harvesters. They present principal modelling approaches, synthesizing fundamental material related to mechanical, aerospace, civil, electrical and materials engineering disciplines for vibration-based energy harvesting using piezoelectric transduction. Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting provides the first comprehensive treatment of distributed-parameter electromechanical modelling for piezoelectric energy harvesting with extensive case studies including experimental validations, and is the first book to address modelling of various forms of excitation in piezoelectric energy harvesting, ranging from airflow excitation to moving loads, thus ensuring its relevance to engineers in fields as disparate as aerospace engineering and civil engineering. Coverage includes: Analytical and approximate analytical distributed-parameter electromechanical models with illustrative theoretical case studies as well as extensive experimental validations Several problems of piezoelectric energy harvesting ranging from simple harmonic excitation to random vibrations Details of introducing and modelling piezoelectric coupling for various problems Modelling and exploiting nonlinear dynamics for performance enhancement, supported with experimental verifications Applications ranging from moving load excitation of slender bridges to airflow excitation of aeroelastic sections A review of standard nonlinear energy harvesting circuits with modelling aspects.

Vehicle suspension systems have been extensively explored in the past decades, contributing to ride comfort, handling and safety improvements. The new generation of powertrain and propulsion systems, as a new trend in modern vehicles, poses significant challenges to suspension system design. Consequently, novel suspension concepts are required, not only to improve the vehicle's dynamic performance, but also to enhance the fuel economy by utilizing regeneration functions. However, the development of new-generation suspension systems necessitates advanced suspension components, such as springs and dampers. This Ph. D. thesis, on the development of hybrid electromagnetic dampers is an Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) collaborative project sponsored by Mechworks Systems Inc. The ultimate goal of this project is to conduct feasibility study of the development of electromagnetic dampers for automotive suspension system applications. With new improvements in power electronics and magnetic materials, electromagnetic dampers are forging the way as a new technology in vibration isolation systems such as vehicle suspension systems. The use of electromagnetic dampers in active vehicle suspension systems has drawn considerable attention in the recent years, attributed to the fact that active suspension systems have superior performance in terms of ride comfort and road-handling performances compared to their passive and semi-active counterparts in automotive applications. As a response to the expanding demand for superior vehicle suspension systems, this thesis describes the design and development of a new electromagnetic damper as a customized linear permanent magnet actuator to be used in active suspension systems. The proposed electromagnetic damper has energy harvesting capability. Unlike commercial passive/semi-active dampers that convert the vibration kinetic energy into heat, the dissipated energy in electromagnetic dampers can be regenerated as useful electrical energy. Electromagnetic dampers are used in active suspension systems, where the damping coefficient is controlled rapidly and reliably through electrical manipulations. Although demonstrating superb performance, active suspensions still have some issues that must be overcome. They have high energy consumption, weight, and cost, and are not fail-safe in case of a power break-down. Since the introduction of the electromagnetic dampers, the challenge was to address these drawbacks. Hybrid electromagnetic dampers, which are proposed in this Ph. D. thesis, are potential solutions to high weight, high cost, and fail-safety issues of an active suspension system. The hybrid electromagnetic damper utilizes the high performance of an active electromagnetic damper with the reliability of passive dampers in a single package, offering a fail-safe damper while decreasing weight and cost. Two hybrid damper designs are proposed in this thesis. The first one operates based on hydraulic damping as a source of passive damping, while the second design employs the eddy current damping effect to provide the passive damping part of the system. It is demonstrated that the introduction of the passive damping can reduce power consumption and weight in an active automotive suspension system. The ultimate objective of this thesis is to employ existing suspension system and damper design knowledge together with new ideas from electromagnetic theories to develop new electromagnetic dampers. At the same time, the development of eddy current dampers, as a potential source for passive damping element in the final hybrid design, is considered and thoroughly studied.

The dynamic vibration absorber, or tuned mass damper, has been one of the most commonly used passive vibration control devices over the past hundred years. With an optimally designed vibration absorber, significant vibration suppression can be achieved to maintain structure health and integrity. On the other hand, researchers are seeking effective energy harvesting techniques to harvest energy from ambient vibration for purposes such as powering sensor networks and microsystems. This has brought light to the investigation of simultaneous vibration suppression and energy harvesting. This research is thus motivated to develop an apparatus with a non-traditional vibration absorber in order to achieve vibration control and energy harvesting simultaneously. For a traditional vibration absorber installed to a single-degree-of-freedom primary system, the absorber damper is connected between the primary mass and the absorber mass. The tuning strategies of such a traditional absorber have been thoroughly studied and energy harvesting techniques have also been applied to the combined system. This research studies a non-traditional vibration absorber whose absorber damper is connected directly between the absorber mass and the base. An apparatus is developed in which an electromagnetic damper used as both the absorber damper and energy harvester is placed between the absorber mass and the base. The principle of the electromagnetic damping is discussed, and the optimum parameters of the non-traditional vibration absorber are studied with respect to different performance indexes under various types of excitation. Analytical derivation, numerical simulation and experiment results are presented in the investigation of each of the tuning strategies. The study has indicated that despite the inevitable trade-off between vibration suppression and energy harvesting, the proposed apparatus is capable of achieving the dual goal with a satisfying performance.

This book presents basic and advanced concepts for energy harvesting and energy efficiency, as well as related technologies, methods, and their applications. The book provides up-to-date knowledge and discusses the state-of-the-art equipment and methods used for energy harvesting and energy efficiency, combining theory and practical applications. Containing over 200 illustrations and problems and solutions, the book begins with overview chapters on the status quo in this field. Subsequent chapters introduce readers to advanced concepts and methods. In turn, the final part of the book is dedicated to technical strategies, efficient methods and applications in the field of energy efficiency, which also makes it of interest to technicians in industry. The book tackles problems commonly encountered using basic methods of energy harvesting and energy efficiency, and proposes advanced methods to resolve these issues. All the methods proposed have been validated through simulation and experimental results. These “hot topics” will continue to be of interest to scientists and engineers in future decades and will provide challenges to researchers around the globe as issues of climate change and changing energy policies become more pressing. Here, readers will find all the basic and advanced concepts they need. As such, it offers a valuable, comprehensive guide for all students and practicing engineers who wishing to learn about and work in these fields.

This fourth volume of eight from the IMAC - XXXII Conference, brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Structural Dynamics, including papers on: Linear Systems Substructure Modelling Adaptive Structures Experimental Techniques Analytical Methods Damage Detection Damping of Materials & Members Modal Parameter Identification Modal Testing Methods System Identification Active Control Modal Parameter Estimation Processing Modal Data

In the era of Industry 4.0, the world is increasingly becoming smarter as everything from mobile phones to cars to TVs connects with unique addresses and communication mechanisms. However, in order to enable the smart world to be sustainable, ICT must embark into energy efficient paradigms. Green ICT is a moving factor contributing towards energy efficiency by reducing energy utilization through software or hardware procedures. Role of IoT in Green Energy Systems presents updated research trends in green technology and the latest product and application developments towards green energy. Covering topics that include energy conservation and harvesting, renewable energy, and green and underwater internet of things, this essential reference book creates further awareness of smart energy and critically examines the contributions of ICT towards green technologies. IT specialists, researchers, academicians, and students in the area of energy harvesting and energy management, and/or those working towards green energy technologies, wireless sensor networks, and smart applications will find this monograph beneficial in their studies.