High-energy orbit attainment of a nonlinear beam generator by adjusting the buckling level

Abstract Introducing nonlinearity enables the generator to have wider bandwidth and higher power output compared to its linear counterpart. Due to the characteristics of nonlinear system, both high-energy and low-energy orbits coexist in the system while the low-energy orbit limits the available power. To attain the desired high-energy responses, a mechanism of two-step buckling level adjustment is applied to a nonlinear piezoelectric buckled beam generator for orbit jump in this paper. Two piezoelectric actuators are introduced into the generator to change the buckling level. Simulations and experiments reveal that not only adjustable buckling level can stimulate the high-energy orbit oscillations, but also increasing the buckling level in a certain range can push it in even-higher energy orbits for both mono-stable and bi-stable cases. The harvested power can be amplified for multifold times with single-frequency excitations. The method of buckling level adjustment opens opportunities for wide applications of nonlinear energy generators.