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The MEMS four-leaf clover wideband vibration energy harvesting device: design concept and experimental verification

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Abstract

In this contribution, we discuss a novel design concept of a high-performance wideband MEMS vibration energy harvester (EH), named four-leaf clover (FLC EH-MEMS) after its circular shape featuring four petal-like mass-spring systems. The goal is to enable multiple resonant modes in the typical range of vibrations scattered in the environment (i.e., up to 4–5 kHz). This boosts the FLC conversion capability from mechanical into electrical energy exploiting the piezoelectric effect, thus overcoming the common limitation of cantilever-like EHs that exhibit good performance only in a very narrow band of vibration (i.e., fundamental resonant mode). The FLC concept is first discussed framing it into the current state of the art, highlighting its strengths. Then, after a brief theoretical introduction on mechanical resonators, the FLC EH-MEMS device is described in details. Finite Element Method (FEM) analyses are conducted in the ANSYS Workbench™ framework. A suitable 3D model is built up to perform modal simulations, aimed to identify mechanical resonant modes, as well as harmonic analyses, devoted to study the mechanical and electrical behaviour of the FLC EH-MEMS (coupled field analysis). The work reports on experimental activities, as well. Physical samples of the FLC EH-MEMS device are fabricated within a technology platform that combines surface and bulk micromachining. Thereafter, specimens are tested both with a laser doppler vibrometer measurement setup as well as with a dedicated shaker-based setup, and the results are compared with simulations for validation purposes. In conclusion, the FLC EH-MEMS exhibits a large number of resonant modes scattered in the tested range of vibrations (up to 15 kHz) already starting from frequencies as low as 200 Hz, and expected levels of converted power better than 10 µW.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Prof. Aldo Romani, Prof. Marco Tartagni, MSc. Michele Dini, BSc. Matteo FIlippi and the staff of the characterization lab with the Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi” (DEI) at University of Bologna (Italy), Campus of Cesena, for giving access and providing advice in using their experimental setup based on vibration test system by Tira GmbH and laser displacement sensors by Keyence Corporation, that was then implemented with similar equipment at FBK and exploited for the preliminary electrical characterization of the FLC EH-MEMS fabricated samples reported above.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MicroSystems Technology (MST) Research Unit, Center for Materials and Microsystems (CMM), Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Via Sommarive 18, 38123, Povo, Trento, Italy

    J. Iannacci, G. Sordo & E. Serra

  2. Institute of Sensor and Actuator Systems (ISAS), Vienna University of Technology (VUT), Floragasse, 7, 1040, Vienna, Austria

    U. Schmid

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  1. J. Iannacci
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Correspondence to J. Iannacci.

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Iannacci, J., Sordo, G., Serra, E. et al. The MEMS four-leaf clover wideband vibration energy harvesting device: design concept and experimental verification. Microsyst Technol 22, 1865–1881 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-016-2886-3

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