Symmetric Electret-Based Vibration Energy Harvesters with Curved-Beam Hinges

Broadband power spectral characteristics are desirable in vibration energy harvesters, and it can be achieved by employing curved-beam hinges, which exhibit force-displacement nonlinearity. Via numerical analysis by using stochastic differential equations and colored-noise inputs, this study shows that a symmetric configuration of the curved-beam hinges in electret-based harvesters can produce higher (up to 8% more) power outputs than an asymmetric one. It also presents that the harvesters with curved-beam hinges can produce higher (up to 4.4 times) power outputs than those with straight hinges when the vibration magnitude is 0.05g.