Novel Micro Vibration Energy Harvesting Device using Frequency Up Conversion

This paper presents a novel approach to rectify a low mechanical frequency to a higher resonant frequency mode, i.e. frequency up conversion. The device consists of a sharp probe, micro superelastic NiTi ridges, a micro slider, and a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever. A probe tip attached on the edge of a piezoelectric cantilever travels along the ridges attached onto a micro slider mechanism. Experimental results show that power output per unit area is substantially larger than conventional resonance approaches.