A Review of Vibration Energy Harvesting, Techniques and Applications

Abstract

Energy harvesting is the process of drawing out a small amount of energy from the ambient environment. The ambient environment is characterized by various available sources of energy such as solar, wind, vibration, gas, liquid flows, etc., which can be converted to usable energy. Vibration energy harvesting is a mechanical process of gathering ambient energy from vibrating sources that can be converted into electrical energy using different techniques of conversion. Vibration energy is available in the urban and industrial environment, but it is often overlooked as a source of power to be scavenged for electricity. The main harvesting techniques are electromagnetic conversion, electrostatic conversion and piezoelectric conversion. This paper will review the work carried out by researchers during the last few years in this field and will compare the different conversion techniques.