A Circuit Theory Perspective on the Modeling and Analysis of Vibration Energy Harvesting Systems: A Review

Abstract

This paper reviews advanced modeling and analysis techniques useful in the description, design, and optimization of mechanical energy harvesting systems based on the collection of energy from vibration sources. The added value of the present contribution is to demonstrate the benefits of the exploitation of advanced techniques, most often inherited from other fields of physics and engineering, to improve the performance of such systems. The review is focused on the modeling techniques that apply to the entire energy source/mechanical oscillator/transducer/electrical load chain, describing mechanical–electrical analogies to represent the collective behavior as the cascade of equivalent electrical two-ports, introducing matching networks enhancing the energy transfer to the load, and discussing the main numerical techniques in the frequency and time domains that can be used to analyze linear and nonlinear harvesters, both in the case of deterministic and stochastic excitations.

Keywords

• energy harvesting
• piezoelectric energy harvester
• nonlinear dynamical systems
• equivalent circuits
• impedance matching
• power efficiency