Improving efficiency of energy harvesting by a novel penta-stable configuration

In this paper, we propose a penta-stable energy harvest (PEH) and demonstrate that it can reach a high efficiency in harvesting vibration energy. The PEH is composed of a cantilever beam with a tip magnet and a pedestal with four fixed magnets. To realize the best penta-stability, the four magnets are mounted on two inclined planes and oriented with their opposite poles facing the tip magnet such that the ensuing attractive forces create five stable equilibrium positions. Compared with bi-stable energy harvester (BEH), the potential energy of PEH owns shallower potential wells and farther outermost potential wells, implying that it is easy to realize snap-through and large amplitudes. The validation experiments are carried out, and the results prove that the PEH can realize snap-through between potential wells more easily and generate higher output powers than the BEH even for a weak random excitation. Therefore, the proposed PEH provides a promising alternative in practical applications.