A nonlinear energy harvester for torsional oscillations

© Proceedings of ISMA 2018 - International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and USD 2018 - International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics. All rights reserved. Torsional fluctuations around the mean speed of a rotating shaft represent a typical source of undesirable energy losses in many industrial applications. Furthermore, many control and structural health monitoring systems in rotordynamics require an ever-increasing number of sensors. Currently, powering a wireless sensor mounted on a rotating shaft is feasible using either slip rings or batteries, both of which often incur high maintenance costs in applications with difficult access or when idle due to malfunction. In this paper, an electromagnetic energy harvester prototype is manufactured by adapting a commercially available permanent magnet DC motor. The energy harvesting capabilities of the device are preliminary tested and compared to theoretical predictions.