Electrodynamic Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transmission Systems

Prof. David Arnold
University of Florida, USA

In this talk, I will provide an overview of my group's work on vibrational energy harvesters, energy harvesting circuits, and, more recently, wireless power transmission. Our efforts primarily employ electrodynamic (commonly called "electromagnetic") transduction for electromechanical energy conversion, i.e. interactions between coils and permanent magnets. I will show how we use lumped element electromechanical models to gain physical insights for maximizing the energy transfer of multi-energy-domain electromechanical systems (harvesters, wireless power) under controlled excitations. Additionally, I will show examples of non-resonant energy harvesting architectures that provide interesting performance in "real-world" operating conditions. Lastly, I will describe our activities in low-voltage, low-power energy harvesting circuit interfaces.