Potential of a vibro-impact nonlinear energy sink for energy harvesting

Abstract

Abstract The energy harvesting potential of a vibro-impact nonlinear energy sink (VINES) is investigated. Applying Signorini’s contact law, the non-smooth dynamics is first formulated in a measure differential complementarity problem and treated using a Moreau-Jean scheme adapted with an energy-conserving integration method. The resulting scheme thus shows a good energy preservation property, allowing one to calculate the energy flow of the system in high precision. Exhaustive discussions are then carried out regarding the energy harvesting performance of the proposed VINES harvester, as well as their dependence on the underlying vibro-impact induced response regimes, under both transient and steady-state responses. It is demonstrated that the vibro-impact is responsible for achieving targeted energy transfer in the transient response or controlling the regimes in the steady-state response, to improve significantly the harvesting efficiency. Moreover, a properly designed VINES, working with 1–2 impacts per cycle, is capable for effective broadband energy harvesting over a wide amplitude and frequency range. Two specific considerations are also performed to evaluate further the generality and efficacy of the proposed harvester, and it is proved the VINES can provide higher energy density than the classical linear or cubic NES harvesters, and its effectiveness could be robust over a certain low level of noise.