Finite Element Modeling and Experimental Verification of a Suspension Electromagnetic Energy Harvester

The power output characteristics of an electromagnetic energy harvester which uses magnetic levitation to produce the nonlinear vibration were investigated in this paper. A finite element model was developed in the electromagnetic finite element software MAXWELL®. The results show that the power output of the harvester was strongly influenced by its external loads and structural parameters. The experimental results show that the peak power output of the electromagnetic harvester is 8.2 mW at the resonance of 8.5 Hz under the vibration acceleration of 5m/s2. That obtained from the finite element analysis is 8.5 mW at 8.4Hz. The experimental results effectively verify the validity of the finite element modeling.