Bistable Transducer with Self-optimized Extractor for Efficient Broadband Vibrational Energy Harvesting (Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2015)

The talk will present a vibration energy harvester, which combines a bistable piezoelectric transducer, with synchronized extraction circuitry for efficient harvesting over broadband sources. An accurate model of the bistable transducer, and its validity against experimental data will be described. For efficient extraction of the transduced energy, self-propelled nonlinear synchronized extraction circuits are employed. The result is more than 100 fold increase in the harvested energy over those reported in literature, and further, more significant gains are observed for broadband excitations. Our ongoing work aims to automatically adjust the tipping point of transducer bistability, using a purely mechanical design, so as to further enhance the efficiency, without having tnd much energy for the adjustment.

Ratnesh Kumar is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University, and a Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and has also been elected a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Control Systems Society. He received B.Tech. in Electrical Eng. from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) in 1987, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the Univ. of Texas, Austin (UTA) in 1989 and 1991, respectively. Ratnesh's research interest spans sensors, networks, controls and software with application domains of safety and security in cyberphysical (hybrid), embedded and real-time systems, model-based software and web-services, pgrid and energy systems, and sustainable agriculture. Ratnesh received Gold Medals from IITK, MCD Fe Dissertation Award from UTA, Fellowships from NASA-Ames, Applied Research Lab at Penn Statedaho National Lab, and several afrom NSF, DoE, DAFRL, PNGM, eld