Investigating the energy harvesting potential of ferro-fluids sloshing in base-excited containers

A. Bibo; R. Masana; A. King; G. Li; M. F. Daqaq

doi:10.1117/12.917437

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27 March 2012 Investigating the energy harvesting potential of ferro-fluids sloshing in base-excited containers

A. Bibo, R. Masana, A. King, G. Li, M. F. Daqaq

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Proceedings Volume 8341, Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems 2012; 83410T (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.917437
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2012, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential of designing a vibratory energy harvester which utilizes a ferrofluid sloshing in a seismically excited tank to generate electric power. Mechanical vibrations change the orientational order of the magnetic dipoles in the ferrofluid and create a varying magnetic flux which induces an electromotive force in a coil wound around the tank, thereby generating an electric current according to Faraday's law. Several experiments are performed on a cylindrical container of volume 5x10^-5 m³ carrying a ferrofluid and subjected to different base excitation levels. Initial results illustrate that the proposed device can be excited at one or multiple modal frequencies depending on the container's size, can exhibit tunable characteristics by adjusting the external magnetic field, and currently produces 28 mV of open-circuit voltage using a base excitation of 2.5 m/s² at a frequency of 5.5 Hz.

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A. Bibo, R. Masana, A. King, G. Li, and M. F. Daqaq "Investigating the energy harvesting potential of ferro-fluids sloshing in base-excited containers", Proc. SPIE 8341, Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems 2012, 83410T (27 March 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.917437

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