Delayed-feedback vibration absorbers to enhance energy harvesting

Recovering energy from ambient vibrations has recently been a popular research topic. This article is conceived as a concept study that explores new directions to enhance the performance of such energy harvesting devices from base excitation. The main idea revolves around the introduction of delayed feedback sensitization (or tuning) of an active vibration absorber setup. To clarify the concept, the Delayed Resonator theory is reviewed and its suitability for energy harvesting purposes is studied. It is recognized that an actively tuned and purely resonant absorber is infeasible for such applications. The focus is then shifted to alternative tuning schemes that deviate from resonance conditions. Also called Delayed Feedback Vibration Absorbers, these devices may indeed provide significant enhancements in energy harvesting capacity. Analytical developments are presented to study energy generation and consumption characteristics. Effects of excitation frequency and absorber damping are investigated. The influences of time-delayed feedback on the stability and the transient performance of the system are also treated. The analysis starts from a stand-alone absorber, emulating seismic mass type harvesters. The work is then extended to vibration control applications, where an absorber/harvester is coupled with a primary structure. The results are demonstrated with numerical simulations on a case study.