A Comprehensive review of Vibration Energy Harvesting System and
Comparison between Piezo-eletric and Electromagnetic Energy Harvesters
Mayank Joshi, Navraj Singh, Nishant Bansal, Omang and Vasu Sharma
Abstract-Harvesting vibrational energy is now turning
out to be the most significant areas of the development
in the recent years. Due to constraint of power
generation, these are used in Micro-Power Generators.
This paper extensively discusses about the two most
significant principles of Harvesting: Piezo-electric and
electro-magnetic Transducers. It also discusses the
working methodology of Piezoelectric and
Electro-magnetic transducers. Moreover, both the
Models are compared for different favorable Conditions
and for maximum efficiencies.
Keywords- Vibration Energy Harvesting, Piezoelectric
Transducers, Electro-magnetic Transducers, MPGs
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, vibrational energy harvesting has
become the most researched areas and is now often
looked upon as a revolution for today’s world
because of various advantages it has to offer to the
mankind. It is clean and a renewable source of energy
Fig 1: Schematic diagram of VMPG
A transducer is required to convert the vibration
mechanical energy into electrical energy. Three
common transdoction mechanisms that are
considered ideal for VMPGs are: Electro-magnetic,
piezoelectric and electrostatic. But amongst these,
electro-magnetic and piezo-electric principles are
used in the VMPG systems.
I.1 ELECTRO-MAGNETIC VMPG: According to
the Faraday’s law of electro-magnetic induction the
magnetic flux, linking in a circuit changes with which
and the technology is soon expected to be used as
substitute for modern day batteries which have
harmful environmental impacts and need regular
replacement. There is a vast scope in tapping this
vibrational energy to produce electrical energy and
one way is by the use of Micro-Power Generators
(MPGs). MPGs are devices which are very small in
size, in order of micro to milli, and use energy from
the surroundings to generate electrical energy. So,
VMPGs (Vibration based MPGs) are the small sized
generators that use vibrational energy from the
surroundings to generate electrical energy. Designing
of the VMPG is done in a way to match frequency
with excitation frequency .Vibrational micro power
generators consists of a mechanical osxcillator
systems, transducer and power management circuit.
Schematic diagram of the VMPG system is given
below.
an electromotive force is induced in circuit. \this
electromotive force is proportional to rate of
change of the flux linkage. In electro-magnetic
VMPGs , this principle is followed to generate the
electrical energy from the mechanical energy.
Vibrations acts as a source of mechanical energy to
vibrate the coil for changing the magnetic flux.
Therefore, it generates an EMF which causes a
current flow in the load circuit. An Electro-magnetic
VMPG may look somewhat like shown in Fig. 2. The
energy harvester module comprises of the cylindrical
tube package, two fixed magnets are placed at the
upper and bottom caps, inside the tube is suspended a
free magnet and the pick-up coil which is wounded
around tube. The free magnet starts moving
towards the tube axis, when the energy harvester
exposes tovibration and an ACvoltage is induced
across the tube. The harvested voltages are rectified
Fig 2: Schematic Diagram of an Electromagnetic MPG
I.2 PIEZOELECTRIC VMPG: The mechanical
energy to electrical energy transformation is most
efficiently done by piezo-electric materials.
Piezo-electric generators are used for production of
voltage using piezo-electric material which generates
electrical charges when it experiences mechanical
stresses. In piezo-electric transducers,kinetic
energy ,that is, vibrations is used for production a
potential difference between thepiezoelectric
materials. In a micro generator version, a
piezoelectric film is contained by an elastic structure.
This is coupled to the external vibration with the help
of induced inertial motion at resonance. External
sources must match their
and boosted with help ofa rectifier, which step-up
the input AC voltage about 4 times.
resonance frequency to the external vibration
spectrum. A piezoelectric VMPG may look like as
shown in Fig. 3. In this piezoelectric Micro Power
Generator, a beam structure is manufactured, and
then is covered with a layer of PZT with laminated
upper andlower electrode. A proof mass built at the
tip of the beam is used to adjust the structural
resonant frequency of the piezoelectric micropower
generator, andto fit the most adaptable frequency.
This frequency must match the ambient vibration of
the surrounding. For maximum stress and strain, the
beam is designed to operate at the resonant frequency.
This maximizes the electric power output.
 Fig. 3: Schematic Diagram of Piezoelectric Transducer
I.3 ELECTROSTATIC VMPG: The conversion
process of mechanical energy of vibrations into
electrical energy is done with the help of the
electrical forces and the work is done using the
relative movement of isolated capacitor plates which
are already electrically charged. The static electricity
is delivered by the work done against the force
between these two electrically charged plates.
Electrostatic VMPGs are not used much because of
its various disadvantages such as it has high resonant
frequency, high output impedance, low output current
and also it requires voltage source for initial charge.
The design of the electrostatic micro power generator
is shown in figure 4. The separated spring-mass
system manages to vibrate long-range (moving about
2 cm) at low frequency; the gap is properly managed
by separated micro ball bearings whichis
approximatelly 10-50 µm. This generator is made up
of fixed parts consisting of two substrates made up of
glass with collector electrodes and moving parts that
have proof mass and two substrates made up of
silicone with new electret structure. Enough surface
potential is obtained by this electret structure suitable
for miniaturization.

Fig. 4: Schematic Diagram of Electrostatic Transducer

VMPGs are gradually becoming attractive because of
their electricity generation mechanism without any
turbine or engine (prime mover). VMPG is a new
technology used in MEMS industries. MEMS or
Micro-Electro- Mechanical Systems isa technology
consisting of microfabricated miniaturized
mechanical and electro-mechanical elements (i.e.,
devices and structures). The MEMS devices can be as
small as less than 1 micron all the way to several
millimeters. The use of VMPG is growing faster for
newer and newer applications. The main objective of
the vibration based energy harvester is to provide
II DIMENSIONLESS ANALYSIS OF SDOF
ELECTRO-MAGNETIC VIBRATION ENERGY
HARVESTER CONNECTED TO SINGLE LOAD
RESISTOR
In reference to SDOF Electro-magnetic Vibration
Harvester, with constant vibration magnitude
excitation as shown below in fig., equation governing
the mechanical system is as follows:
M.z + D.z + K.z = -M.y –B.l.I
Here,
y =Excitation displacement
M=Mass
D=Short Circuit Mechanical Damping Coefficient
K=Short Circuit Stiffness of the SDOF
Electro-magnetic Mechanical System
Z=Relative Displacement of Mass wrt the Base
I=Current in the Crcuit
B=Magnetic Field Constant
power to those devices which require milli to micro
watts of power. Significant development of MEMS
has made the MPGs more demanding in the area of
WSNs (Wireless Sensor Network) in recent years.
Vibration based micro-power generatorrs can be one
of the best fits for the selfpowered WSNs. Wireless
Sensor Networks (WSNs) are autonomous sensors
that are spatially disttributed and are used for
monitoring physical or environmental conditions,
such as temperature, sound, pressure, etc. and then
the data is transfferred through the network to a main
location.
l=Total Length of the Wire that Constitutes the Coil
Electrical System Governing Equation is given by
V=B.l.dz/dt – Re.I - Le.dI/dt
Here, V represents the Voltage of the given circuit, Le
and Re represents the Self-Inductance and Resistance
of the Coil.
By using Laplace transform, the dimensionless
resonant input and harvested power and the Energy
Harvesting Efficieny is derived below:
Where, is the reference power. RN and
denotes Electro-magnetic Vibration Energy Harvester
as follows:

Which results in

Here, represents the Equivalent force

factor; dimensionless equivalent force factor,
is similar to that

is half of the Electro-magnetic mechanical coupling From the above equations., is a

factor ,divided by mechanical decreasing function of α2N.The limit of the peak

resonant harvested power tends to 1/8 when
damping ratio, ξ. equivalent force factor tends to zero.

in Electro-magnetic vibration energy If only the equivallent force factor is changed; hence
in order to find the peak value of resonant harvested
harvester is equivalent to the blocking capacitance of power the partial differential of the, resonant
piezoelectric insert Co. The effect of harvested power with respect to the equivallent force
Electro-magnetic mechanical coupling is reflected by factor should tend to zero, which shows:
and concludes to k2 as the coupling coefficient.
The proximity of the oscillation circuit to resonance
and external load is represented by dimensionless
resistance ,RN . The load coefficient ξc is half the
dimensionless resistance RN.

The dimensionless resonant harvested power &

energy harvesting efficiency of any system can be
predicted for a given set of values of electrical
resistance and equivalent force factor. The harvested
power & resonant energy harvesting efficiency is
dependent on mechanical damping, magnetic field
which leads to
constant, resonant frequency , load resistance ,coil
resistance , coil wire length , coil self-inductance.
These equations can be applied for similar
Electro-magnetic systems .

In case, to find peak parrameter of resonant harvested

power; the partial differential of the resonant
harvested power, with respect to the resistance is
equal to zero, which leaves us with the following
equation: This doesn’t have a solution. This infers tha,t there is
no fixed pair of resistance and Force Factor for max.
Harvesting of energy.
With resistance being changed, partial derivative of
efficiency with respect to resistance must not be
equal to zero:
∂η/∂RN ≠0
Similarly for equivalent force factor eqn. is:
∂η/∂αN≠0
This means, there is no peak efficiency in these cases.
There is no fixed value of these two parameters
which give a max efficiency over the entire range of
two dimensionless variables.
Fig. 5 Single DOF Piezoelectric energy harvester
III PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCERs
Single DOF piezoelectric energy harvester attached
to single load resistor is shown in Fig. 5. The derived
dimensionless resonant harvested power, energy
harvesting efficiency and dimensionnless resonant
input power are given below:
Experimental results have inferred that when
equivalent force factor is very large, the resistance is
not zero or vice-versa; the efficiency tends to 100%.
When both the parameters tends to zero, the
efficiency tends to zero. When the electrical RC
circuit reaches a resonance RN=1, if αN =1, η=33.3%.
Rn and αn are defined as: α2
Rn = R Co ω
αn = √[α2/ (D Co ω)]
Co= Blocking capacitance of piezoelectric insert
Rn= Normalised dimensionless resistance which takes
in considderation both the internal resistance, and the
external load
ξc= Inversed load coefficient
ξe= Inversed resistive loss coefficient
α2n=a dimensionless force factor, gives a combined
effect of:
K=Electromechanical coupling coefficient
Qm=Mechanical damping quality factor
Hence, the four dimensionless characteristics ξc, ξe,
k and Qm are reduced to two characteristic parameters
Rn and αn which are also dimensionless quantities. It
is also possible to prove that the dimensionless force
factor equals half of the electromechanical coupling
factor divided by the mechanical damping ratio. The
force factor α and the blocking capacitance Co can be
given as
α = [e33 A/ H]
Co= [ A/ H]
Where e33 is the piezoelectric constant and is the
permittivity. A and H are piezoelectric disk surface
area and thickness respectively. From the above
equations, it is clear that the dimensionless resonant
harvested power and energy harvesting efficiency
depend only on the system resonant frequency, load
resistance, mechanical damping, force factor and
blocking capacitance of the piezoelectric insert.
Comparing Eqns.., it is seen that, from the
Electro-magnetic system to the piezoelectric system,
only the individual terms of 1/RN have changed to the
terms of RN, while the terms of RαN2, N and other
terms are not changed. This represents a duality
among the SDOF piezoelectric and Electro-magnetic
vibration energy harvesters, as the calculation
formullae of the dimensionnless resonant harvested
power, input power and energy harvestting efficiency
are interchangeable between the Electro-magnetic
harvester and the piezoelectric harvester with
reciprocalls of individual only 1/RN or RN related
terms but not RNα2 N terms. It is seen that as the
excitation acceleration amplitude increases, other
parameters being kept constant; the resonant
harvested power increases. The resonant harvested
power is proportional to the squared base acceleration
amplitude. Using Eq. (10) with only the
dimensionless resistance being varied, in order to
find the peak value of the dimensionless resonant
harvested power, the partial differential of the
dimensionless resonant harvested power with respect
to the dimensionless resistance must be equal to zero,
which gives the following equation:
It is observed that [Phmax/IMyI]/D is a monotonically
increasing function of α2N. When the dimensionless
force factor tends to be very large, the limit of the
peak dimensionnless resonant harvested power, tends
to be 1/8. In other words, the limit of the peak
resonant harvested power Phmax is IMyI2/8D under
large α2N which is one eighth of the reference power
regardless of the dimensionless resistance and force
factor. The peak power limit is same as that of the
Electro-magnetic harvester where it occurs at the
opposite range end of the dimensionless force factor.
If only the dimensionless force factor is changed,
then in order to find the peak value, of the
dimensionless resonant harvested power, the partial
differential of the dimensionless harvested power
with respect to the dimensionless force factor, must
be equal to zero, which gives
.
IV CONCLUSION
Considerable development of MEMs has increased
the demand of micro power generators in the area of
WSNs in past few years. Vibration based MPGs, are
the best fits for selfpowered WSNs. External
vibration sources, are required to operate the VMPG
systems. However, the sources of vibration in the
surroundings are intermittent in nature due to which
utilisation of this energy becomes difficult.
As discussed above, the three basic principles for
harvesting vibrational energy are piezoelectric,
Electro-magnetic and electrostatic, in which
electrostatic vibration based MPGs are least
preferred because of its various disadvantages such
as it has high resonant frequency, high output
impedance, low output current and also it requires
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