Multimodal system for harvesting magnetic and mechanical energy

In this letter, we investigate a multimodal system for simultaneous energy harvesting from stray magnetic and mechanical energies by combining magnetoelectric and piezoelectric effects. The system consists of a cantilever beam with tip mass and a magnetoelectric laminate attached in the center of the beam. At 2 Oe magnetic field and mechanical vibration amplitude of 50mg, both at frequency of 20 Hz, the system was found to generate open circuit output voltage of 8 V(P.P.). An equivalent circuit model is proposed that predicts a summation effect for both mechanical and magnetic energies. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.