This is the slides for my talk at Sensors Expo & Conference 2018 in San Jose, California, on commercial and research applications of vibrations energy harvesting in the fields of medical implants, wearables, structural health monitoring, green buildings and many other. #Sensors18

1. Karim El-Rayes, MASc., BSEE.
Research Associate
& PhD. Candidate
University of Waterloo
Canada
Vibration Energy Harvesting In
Action:
Real World Stories

2. What is Energy Harvesting?
It is the process of scavenging energy from any physical
phenomenon in the surrounding environment and
converting it into usable electric power.
Input
conditioning
(optional)
Transducer
Output
conditioning
Energy
Storage
Input from
Physical
phenomenon
Output
power
Energy Harvester

3. Harvesting the Power of Nature
Water wheels were
used to convert the
kinetic energy of the
river Nile stream in
ancient Egypt into
usable power for
water-lifting
irrigation. 
Figure from: www.machinerylubrication.com

4. 8642
1821
1831
1880
1891
1995
1839
1887
1954
Electromagnetic Induction
Michael Faraday
Piezoelectricity
Pierre & Jacques
Curie Electrical Resonant
Transformer Circuit,
AKA: Tesla Coil
Nicola Tesla
Mass-on-Spring
Electromagnetic
Vibrations
Energy Harvester
C.B. William
& R.B. Yates
Seebeck
Thermoelectric effect
Thomas Johann
Seebeck
Photovoltaic Cell
Edmond
Becquerel Wind Turbine
James Blyth
Radioisotope
Thermoelectric
Generator,
AKA: RTG
K. Jordan
& J. Birden

5. Scales of Energy Harvesting
Solar
 Macro & Micro
Vibration & Motion
 Micro
Wind
 Macro
Thermal
 Micro

6. It is the technology of scavenging waste kinetic
energy due to natural or man-made activity
from the surrounding environment and
converting it to usable electrical energy.
What is “Vibration Energy Harvesting”?

7. Transduction Mechanisms for VEH
Electromagnetic
Output
Piezoelectric
Piezoelectric
material
Output
Electrostatic

8. Mechanical Structures for VEH
𝒎𝒙 + 𝒄𝒙 + 𝒌𝒙 = −𝒎𝒚
Mass
Spring stiffness “k”Spring
damping “C”
Unloaded beam
Loaded beam
Beam Length
Static
body or
Wall
Force
applied on
the beam
𝒌 =
𝟑𝑬𝑰
𝑳 𝟑
𝑓𝑜 =
1
2π
𝑘
𝑚
Cantilever Beam Structure Mass-on-Spring Structure

9. Energy Harvesting Flow:
Power Management Perspective
Transducer
Voltage
Buck/Boost
Rectification
Energy Storage
circuitry
Voltage
Regulation
(optional)
Energy Storage To the
Load
Signal Conditioning Power Management
Energy Source

10. Energy Harvesting Flow:
Power Management Perspective
• Rectification: full-bridge diode rectifier, H-bridge
rectifier.
• Voltage Boosting: DC-DC converter, Charge-
Pump, Voltage multiplier, Step-up transformer.
• Energy storage: Rechargeable Battery vs. Super
capacitor.
• Energy management: PMIC and LDO.
• Load design: optimum load for maximum power
transfer.

11. Selecting a VEH for Your Application
• Center frequency (Resonance).
• Harvesting Bandwidth (3dB bandwidth).
• Amplitude.
• Output power.
• Physical profile (form-factor).

12. Finding the Sweet Spot
Figure from:
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-cutoffFrequencies.htm
Figure from:
https://www.boundless.com/physics/

13. Some Designs from Research
 Mann et al. design
fo = 5.12 Hz
Output power = 200 mW
 Zhenlong Xu et. al.
Multi frequency hybrid VEH
(Piezoelectric+Magnetic)
fo = 22.8 Hz & 25.8 Hz
Output Power = 1.2mW & 2.57 mW
Wang et al.
fo = 48.58 and 146.72 Hz
Output power = 104 nW
Halim et. al.
fo = 51 Hz
Output power = 110 μW
 Sari et al.
fo = 3.5 – 4.5 kHz
Output power = 0.4 μW
Tashiro et al.
fo = 6 Hz
Output power = 36 μW
 Designed for pacemakers
Amirtharajah et al.
fo = 94 Hz
Output power = 400 μW

14. Variable-Flux Biaxial Vibrations Energy Harvester
Magnet
Spring
Non-ferromagnetic tube (plastic)
End
limiters
Ferromagnetic ball (stainless steel)
Coil
Spring
End
Limiters
El-Rayeset. al.
fo = 7.64 Hz
Output power = 154 μW

15. Energy Harvesting at Heart 
 Geon-Tae Hwang et. al.,
KAIST, South Korea
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
Output power: 1.18 µW
Dagdeviren et. al., ↓
University of Illinois, USA
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
Output power: 1.2 µW/cm2
Source: John A. Roger YouTube Channel

16. Next Generation of Smart Shoes
Sampath Kumar, ↓
NMAM Institute of Technology, India
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
Output power: 8.2 mW
Tsung-Hsing Hsu et. al., 
University of Wisconsin
– Madison, USA
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
Output power: 1 – 5 Watts
InStep NanoPower, LLC ↑
Wisconsin, USA
Technology: Microfluid – Electrostatic
Output power: 1 W

17. Smart Textiles
↑ Suling Li et. al.,
Nanning University, China
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
Output power: 4.65 µW/cm2
Chao Li et. al., 
University of Central
Florida, FL, USA
Technology: Solar
Output power: 243
mW/cm3

18. Smart Textiles (cont.)
↑ Min Zhang et. al.,
Xiamen University, China
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
Output power: 10.2 nW
↑ Quinn Brogan et. al.,
Virginia Tech, VA, USA
Technology: Thermal and Solar
Output power: 140-220 mW

19. Wearable Energy Harvesting
 PowerWalk
Bionic Power
Vancouver, Canada
Technology: Electromagnetic
Output power: 10 – 12W ↓ PowerWatch
Matrix Industries
Menlo Park, CA, USA
Technology: Thermal (body heat)
Picture from: Design News

20. Keeping an Eye on National Infrastructure:
Structural Health Monitoring
Energy harvester to generate power from traffic on
Forth road bridge, Scotland, ↑
Cambridge Center for Smart Infrastructure and
Construction, University of Cambridge, UK
Picture from: American Society of Civil Engineers
Using energy harvesting to power up wireless sensor nodes
for structural health monitoring, ↑
Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Wireless sensor networks for infrastructure health
monitoring

21. Macro Vibrations Energy Harvesting
PaveGen Inc. floor tile installed in Astana, Kazakhstan
London, UK
Technology: Electromagnetic VEH
Output power: 7W per stepPhoto courtesy of: Reader’s Digest

22. Macro VEH:
Highway to Power
California Energy
Commission announced in
April 2017 a pilot project of
embedding thousands of
Piezoelectric vibrations
energy harvesters roads to
power roadside lights or
add to the grid.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

23. Macro VEH:
Regenerative Brakes
source: www.machinedesign.com
Source: HowStuffWorks

24. More Novel Ideas for VEH
↑ Y. Tanaka et. al.,
VEH from sea waves
University of Nottingham, UK
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
McGarry & Knight, 
VEH from trees swaying
Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research
Organization (CSIRO), Australia
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
Output power: 44.7 mW

25. Vibration Energy Harvesting from High-Rise
Buildings
Belatchew Labs Architecture’s
Strawscraper:
harvests energy from the wind
with a kinetic hair-covered shell
Belatchew Labs, Sweden
Technology: Piezoelectric VEH
Source: www.inhabitat.com

26. Summary of VEH Transduction
Technologies
Parameter Electromagnetic Piezoelectric Electrostatic
Voltage Low
Few milli-Volts 
sub-1V
Very High
Few volts 
tens of volts
High
Few volts 
hundreds of volts
Current High
Tens of µA 
hundreds of mA
Low
Few nA  hundreds
of µA
Very Low
Few nA 
few µA
Power High
hundreds of µW 
few Watts
Low
Few nW 
hundreds of µW
Very Low
Tens of nW 
hundreds of µW
Center
Frequency
Low
Less than 100 Hz
Low  High
1 Hz  5 KHz
Low
Less than 100 Hz

27. Challenges in Vibrations Energy Harvesting
• Low output power (few watts).
• Peak power is achieved at a certain frequency.
• Narrow harvesting bandwidth.
• Intermittent output power.
• Form factor issues, especially for wearables and
implants.
• Electrical and Mechanical issues (fatigue, tuning,
maintenance, installation, replacement).
• Nonlinear behavior.

28. Triangle of innovation for VEH
New
Materials
Magnetic
materials,
Electrets, PZT…
etc
Fabrication
Technology
MEMS,
Polymers, IC
technology
Form
Factor
meso vs. micro
scale, MEMS
(again).

29. Thank you for your time 
Questions?
Karim El-Rayes® 2018

30. References
• “A Novel Tunable Multi-Frequency Hybrid Vibration Energy
Harvester Using Piezoelectric and Electromagnetic Conversion
Mechanisms”, Z. Xu, X. Shan, D. Chen and T. Xie.
• “Investigations of a nonlinear energy harvester with a bistable
potential well”, B.P. Mann, B.A. Owens.
• “Self-powered signal processing using vibration-based power
generation”, R. Amirtharajah, A.P. Chandrakasan.
• “An electromagnetic micro power generator for wideband
environmental vibrations”, I. Sari, T. Balkan, H. Kulah.

31. References (cont.)
• “Design, fabrication and performance of a new vibration-
based electromagnetic micro power generator”, P. Wang, X.
Dai, D. Fang, X. Zhao.
• “A non-resonant, frequency up-converted electromagnetic
energy harvester from human-body-induced vibration for
hand-held smart system applications”, M. A. Halim and J. Y.
Park.
• “Development of an electrostatic generator for a cardiac
pacemaker that harnesses the ventricular wall motion”,
R. Tashiro, N. Kabei, K. Katayama, E. Tsuboi, K. Tsuchiya.

32. References (cont.)
• “Conformal piezoelectric energy harvesting and storage from motions of
the heart, lung, and diaphragm”, Canan Dagdeviren, Byung Duk
Yang, Yewang Su, Phat L. Tran, Pauline Joe, Eric Anderson, Jing Xia, Vijay
Doraiswamy, Behrooz Dehdashti, Xue Feng, Bingwei Lu, Robert
Poston, Zain Khalpey, Roozbeh Ghaffari, Yonggang Huang, Marvin J.
Slepian, and John A. Rogers.
• “Self‐Powered Cardiac Pacemaker Enabled by Flexible Single Crystalline
PMN‐PT Piezoelectric Energy Harvester”, Geon-Tae Hwang, Hyewon Park,
Jeong-Ho Lee, SeKwon Oh, Kwi-Il Park, Myunghwan Byun, Hyelim Park,
Gun Ahn, Chang Kyu Jeong, Kwangsoo No, HyukSang Kwon, Sang-Goo Lee,
Boyoung Joung, and Keon Jae Lee.

33. References (cont.)
• “Energy Scavenging During Human Walk”, Sampath Kumar.
• “Bubbler: A Novel Ultra-High Power Density Energy Harvesting
Method Based on Reverse Electrowetting”, Tsung-Hsing Hsu,
Supone Manakasettharn, J. Ashley Taylor and Tom Krupenkin.
• “Cloth-Based Power Shirt for Wearable Energy Harvesting and
Clothes Ornamentation”, Suling Li, Qize Zhong, Junwen Zhong,
Xiaofeng Cheng, Bo Wang, Bin Hu, and Jun Zhou.
• “Solar and Thermal Energy Harvesting with a Wearable
Jacket”, Quinn Brogan, Thomas O’Connor, and Dong Sam Ha

34. References (cont.)
• “Wearable energy-smart ribbons for synchronous energy
harvest and storage”, Chao Li, Md. Monirul Islam, Julian
Moore1, Joseph Sleppy, Caleb Morrison, Konstantin
Konstantinov, Shi Xue Dou, Chait Renduchintala and Jayan
Thomas.
• “A hybrid fibers based wearable fabric piezoelectric
nanogenerator for energy harvesting application”, Min Zhang,
Tao Gao, Jianshu Wang, Jianjun Liao, Yingqiang Qiu, Quan
Yang, Hao Xue, Zhan Shi, Yang Zhao, Zhaoxian Xiong and Lifu
Chen.

35. References (cont.)
• “Forced vibration experiments on flexible piezoelectric
devices operating in air and water environments”, Tanaka,
Yoshikazu; Oko, Takuya; Mutsuda, Hidemi; Popov, Atanas A.;
Patel, Rupesh; McWilliam, Stewart.
• “The Potential for Harvesting Energy from the Movement of
Trees”, Scott McGarry and Chris Knight.
• “Variable-flux Biaxial Vibrations Energy Harvester”, K. El-
Rayes, S. Gabran, E. Abdelrahman, W. Melek.