A Study of Gallium-Iron Compound Based Magnetostrictive Energy Harvester Subjected to Ambient Vibrations

In this paper, a gallium-iron compound (Galfenol) bar embedded in a lab-scale cantilever structure has been modelled through Multiphysics software in order to harvest and study energy from the magnetostrictive material. A copper coil is wound around the Galfenol bar to produce voltage through Villari effect (inverse magnetostrictive effect) followed by Faraday's Law of Induction. The cantilever beam is made of Stainless Steel (SS-430). The model has been simulated with dynamic loading conditions comprising three different loading conditions: sinusoidal, square and triangle. The analysis has also been performed with time dependent study in Multiphysics software. The voltage obtained across the open terminals of the coil from different simulations is quite promising and can be used for execution of some decision making algorithms.