Development of an energy harvesting system utilizing the magnetostrictive material, Galfenol, will be completed in this effort. The energy harvesting system will consist of Galfenol plates or sheets, magnetic circuit components, coupling structure, power conditioning electronics, sensor, and wireless transmitter. Lab testing and relevant environment testing through sea-trials will be completed on the system and compared to the predicted performance of FEA and analytical models. In addition, Galfenol wire fabrication efforts will be advanced with the primary goal of developing a Galfenol alloy and process capable of producing wire with the appropriate texture to maximize energy harvesting properties for future 1D devices.
Benefit: Successful completion of the proposed Phase II work will demonstrate the energy harvesting capability of a 2D patch energy harvesting system using Galfenol in a real-world at-sea environment. Wireless-networked sensors have long held promise for decreased down-time and reduced life-cycle costs by allowing automated monitoring of essential equipment. A critical obstacle to widespread adoption is the means of powering the network. The development of an energy harvester that can be directly integrated into a wireless sensor, as will be shown with successful completion of this effort, is the critical disruptive technology that will open up the multi-billion dollar wireless sensor condition-based monitoring market for both DoD and worldwide commercial applications. In addition to the 2D energy harvesting system development, advancements in Galfenol wire fabrication technology will be made in the Phase II work. Development of a Galfenol cable in Phase II will allow future research to begin designing and fabricating 1D energy harvesting structures. These innovative energy harvesters have the potential to be used for suspending vibrating loads, cargo, connecting rafted objects, or coupling to curved or irregular shaped vibrating surfaces. Wire arrangement, magnetic bias, coil placement, and return path are all considerations in the design of an energy harvesting cable.
Keywords: magnetostriction, wireless sensors, Energy Harvesting, galfenol, Vibrations