Electromagnetic vibration energy harvester using springless proof mass and ferrofluid as a lubricant

This paper presents an electromagnetic energy harvester using an array of rectangular permanent magnets as springless proof mass and ferrofluid as a lubricating material. Lateral motion of the multi-pole magnet array generates voltage across an array of copper windings formed under the aluminum channel in response to low frequency external vibrations such as human-body-induced motion. A proof-of-concept device has been fabricated and output voltage has been measured at various input frequencies and accelerations provided by a vibration exciter. Device with ferrofluid lubrication generated maximum open-circuit voltage of 0.47V at 3g vibration at 12Hz, which is 8% higher than that of the device without lubricant. Maximum output power of 71.26μW has been obtained at 40.8Ω with the device with ferrofluid lubrication.