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Design and Implementation of an Energy Harvester with a Fluid Core

Conference Paper · August 2019

DOI: 10.1109/PGSRET.2019.8882687

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 Proc. of the 5th International Conference on Power Generation Systems and Renewable Energy Technologies (PGSRET)
26-27 August, Turkey

Design and Implementation of an

Energy Harvester with a Fluid Core
Hilal Kurt
Damla Tavsan Erol Kurt
Department of Physics
Department of Electrical and Department of Electrical and
Gazi University, Faculty of Sciences
Electronics Engineering Electronics Engineering
Ankara, Turkey
Gazi University, Technology Faculty Gazi University, Technology Faculty
hkurt@gazi.edu.tr
Ankara, Turkey Ankara, Turkey
damlatavsan46@gmail.com ekurt@gazi.edu.tr
Raoul Rashid Nigmatullin
Theoretical Physics Department
Kazan State University
Kazan,Tatarstan, Russian Federation
renigmat@gmail.com

Abstract— In the present work, a new type granular core has

been studied and implemented to a mechanically excited
electromagnetic harvester. The system mainly consists of a
linear fluid core and a surrounding winding. The system entirely
depends on the vibration of the fluid core indicating a highly
fluid dynamical feature, whereas the winding component of the
harvester stays at rest. The tests have proven that the generated
energy depends on the vibration frequency and mass of the
ferromagnetic granules. An rms power and voltage values are
found as P=1 mW and U= 40 mV at m= 28.7 g ferromagnetic
granules and 30-62 Hz frequencies, respectively.
Keywords— harvester, fluid core, granules, power
I. INTRODUCTION
Energy harvesting from ambient mechanical vibrations
gets considerable attention from the society of physicists,
engineers and technicians [1–3]. In the literature, conventional
spring-mass configurations for electromagnetic energy
harvesters are intensely encountered [4-7]. In these designs or
applications, all solid features of the transduction mechanisms
limit the applications. Recently, we proposed different
electromagnetic vibratory energy harvesters [7–8], which
convert vibratory energy into an electromotive force.
However, all these applications uses a natural frequency
dependence in the harvesters, thereby when the ambient
frequency differs from the natural frequency, the energy gain
decreases dramatically [2]. In the ferrofluid harvester
applications, such a dependence on natural frequency does not
exist. According to literature, ferrofluids consist of three basic
components, namely, a base fluid, ferromagnetic particles and
coating on particles [9,10]. Ferrofluids are liquids, which have
liquid character with a ferromagnetic material. Many of them
indicate the characteristics of base fluids. Since the
concentration of the magnetic particles is low with a
percentage of 3–10%, their contribution to the fluid density,
vapor pressure, pour point, or any chemical properties of the
liquid is neglegable [11]. However, the viscosity of the
ferrofluid changes compared with the viscosity of the base
fluid [11].
The ferrofluids can be used in many technical issues such
as sealing, lubricating, detection, heat transfer and mechanical
or electromagnetic damping. The main application point
comes from the ability to be controlled by an external
magnetic force [12,13]. In the ferromagnetic fluid prodcution,
the nanoparticles are coated with a surfactant to prevent the
agglomeration. When an external magnetic field is used, the
magnetic dipoles inside the ferrofluid are oriented in one
direction. Otherwise, they are directed randomly that does not
yield to a net magnetized fluid. In the presence of a sloshing
motion, there exist a complicated fluid behavior including the
large amplitude surface waves. A turbulence motion also
exists in the fluid and that changes the orientation of the
magnetic dipoles during the sloshing motion and that cause
sudden changes in the magnetic flux. That effect assists to
induce the electromotive force (emf) in a winding aound fluid
housing. The main difference between a solid core and a
ferrofluid is that the ferrofluid can have infinite number of
model frequencies due to the turbulence motion. That reality
improves the performance of the harverster under random and
non-stationary excitations.
In the present study, a fluid core with averaged 70 um iron
dusts has been implemented to the energy harvester. Indeed,
such a system is different than the so-called standard
ferromagnetic fluid, since it does not include any process of
coating with surfactant. Thereby, the proposed system is easy
to produce and much cheaper than the ferrofluid.
II. THEORY
By using an external magnetic field H, a theoretical
expression can be revealed. Initially the Maxwell equations
can be written as,
∇⋅Β=0, (1)
∇⋅Η=0, (2)
∇∙Ε=(-∂Β)/∂t. (3)

978-1-7281-2301-1/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

 Here the electromotive force (emf) is given by Eq. (3), Here, N, h, d and n denote the winding number of
when the magnetic flux density B varies with time. In the fluid horizontal coil, light of the cell, width of the cell and the
system, the magnetic field will affect the magnetic granular
finite difference index, respectively. In the z-direction, the
structures having 70 m dimension in avarage. The
magnetization is linearly proportional to the magnetic field field component yields to magnetic scalar potential ψ and
strength H. In the absence of electric current inside the fluid, magnetization as follows:
electric field cannot induce a high magnetic effect, thereby
that is negligible over the fluid volume and the fourth equation
of Maxwell’s statement is missing for that reason. The
∫ Β 𝑑Ω = 𝜇 ∫ (𝛹 −𝛹 ) 𝑑𝑙 +
magnetic scalar potential, 𝜇 ∫𝛀 Μ 𝑑Ω (11)
Η=-∇Ψ (4) Here Ω denotes the calculation domain of the finite
gives the magnetic effect and that can be used for the difference. For the fluid part, Navier-Stokes equtions can be
experession of the magnetic Gauss Law such as, written as,
𝜕𝒖
∇∙[(1+χ)∇Ψ-1/μ0 Β0]=0 (5) 𝜌 + 𝒖 ∙ ∇𝒖 = −∇𝑝 +
𝜕𝑡
Here,  denotes the magnetic susceptibility of the granules
∇ ∙ 𝜂( ∇𝒖 + (∇𝒖)𝑻 ) + 𝜇 𝜧 ∙ ∇𝑯 −
inside the nonferromagnetic fluid. Here, 𝜌𝒈 + 𝒇𝒃 − 𝜎𝜅∇𝐻(𝑓) (12)
Μ=χΗ (6) ∇⋅u=0 (13)
sits for the relation of material susceptibility and field strength Here, an incompressible fluid is considered and u, p, , 
H. The boundaries satisfy the conditions: and g denote fluid velocity, pressure, mass density, viscosity
and the gravitational acceleration, respectively. Here the
∂Ψ/∂n=0, for the boundary of entire domain (7)
important term σκ∇H (f) in Eq. (13) is the surface tension
Ψ=0, at the center or the boundary of entire domain force, which is applied on the liquid-gas interface inside the
(8) cell.  and  are surface tension coefficient and local
curvature, respectively. The Heaviside step function of
Here, n denotes the outward normal unit vector for the volume fraction f is given by H(f). The main exicitation is
boundary. In the calculations, time-dependent magnetic field
defined by am= - a0 cos(t) and f inertial force is given by,
is solved by Eq. 5 by considering each time step of the
particles inside the fluid (Fig. 1). 𝒇𝒃 = −𝜌𝒂𝒃 = 𝜌𝒂𝟎 𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝜔𝑡) , (14)
where 𝒂𝟎 is the main excitation amplitude with a
frequency . The boundaries can be determined as u = 0 and
p = 0 on the tank boundary and at the central top edge,
respectively.

III. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 2(a). It includes a

shaker unit with an exciting signal generator, and amplificator
and an oscilloscope to observe the waveform from the
harvester. For the shaker unit, a signal generator AWG-1020
type and an amplifier/ shaker combination LDS V406 are
used. The shaker system has a broad frequency from 1 Hz to
1 kHz. An amplifier is required in order to enhance the
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the computational domain for excitation magnitude for the shaker. In addition, a variable
nonferromagnetic fluid and ferromagnetic granules. electrical load table is used for the detection of optimized
After finding the flux density B, one can find emf via, power generation depending on the frequencies. Fig. 2(b)
shows the harvester and terminals attached to the electrical
ε=-(dϕΒ)/dt , (9) load.
where B denotes the magnetic flux. In our system, the
windings are wrapped in horizontal direction. By considering A DAQ card is used to export the results of data to a
the the key component of field in vertical direction, one writes laptop. The DAQ card used in the experimental studies is NI
the emf as follows: USB-6250 type. It has 16 analog inputs, that is already
sufficient for such a study. The card achieves to make multiple
𝑛+1 recordings of the data such as the displacement of the cell end
𝜀 = −𝛮 h
d d𝑡 Ω 𝑧
𝛮h
∫ 𝐵 𝑑Ω = − d Δ𝑡 [ ∫Ω 𝐵𝑧 𝑑Ω − and generated voltages. The data is collected via a LabVIEW
𝑛
∫Ω 𝐵𝑧 𝑑Ω ] (10) package during the tests. A sensor head can measure the
oscillations with a sampling rate of t = 1 ms. In addition for
instantaneous waveform, we have used a Kenwood DCS-7020 IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
oscilloscope.

The sample waveforms of the harvested voltage are shown

in Figs. 3(a-d).

(a)

(a)

(b)

(c)
(b)
Fig. 1. (a) Experimental setup, (b) the fluid core harvester.

The proposed fluid core harvester consists of a glass

container, which is wrapped by a coil with a 350 turn
windings, iron granules, motor oil and two small magnets
located at two ends of container. The magnets induce an
external magnetic field, which changes the flux lines inside
the glass container due to the sloshing motion. Indeed, the
magnetic dipoles in the granules rotate and produce a net
magnetic moment such that the average direction of the fluid
magnetization is aligned with the external field. When the
container is subjected to an external excitation, the fluid with
granules exhibits a sloshing motion by yielding a time-varying
magnetization in the oil. That produces a varying magnetic (d)
flux inside the fluid core and an electromotive force occurs
between the terminals of the windings.
 (e)
Fig 3. The voltage waveforms at the conditions of (a) m=23.7 g, f= 50 Hz (a)
and unloaded, (b) m = 23.7 g, f = 50 Hz, RL = 0.6 Ω, (c) m=38.7 g and f= 50
Hz and unloaded, (d) m=28.7g, f=50Hz, RL=1.6 Ω and (e) m=58.7g, f=50Hz,
L=1.6 Ω.

Here the iron dust mass (i.e. m) inside the fluid core are
changed as a main parameter. As the second parameter, the
electrical load is considered, since the output power strictly
depends on the output. Any electrical system produces
maximal output power when the impedances are balanced.
The last test parameter is the external excitation frequency f.
By comparing Figs. 3(a) and (b), the dependence on the output
electrical load is obvious. At the unloaded case the maximal
sinusoidal voltage is measured as 30 mV at 50 Hz external
excitation. However, when the output load is applied as RL =
0.6 Ω, the amplitude decreases to 20 mV. Other parameters (b)
are the same. In the case of Fig. 3(c), only the iron dust amount
Fig. 4 The voltage waveforms at (a) m= 58.7 g, f=90 Hz, RL =1.6 Ω,
is increased to 38.7 g at the same external frequency. Then, (b) m=58.7 g, f= 90 Hz, RL= 3.6 Ω.
the amplitude of 38 mV is reached for the increased mass of
ferromagnet. Indeed, just by increasing the mass of the
In Figs. 5(a-c), voltage versus resistance, voltage versus
ferromagnet, 8 mV increase in amplitude has been observed.
excitation frequency and power versus frequency are given.
Besides, by comparing the cases of Figs. 3(d) and (e), again
According to experimental tests, the harvester maximum
another difference in amplitude is revealed. The amplitude
voltage first decreases by resistance upto 0.5 Ω, then increase
decays to 25 mV from 40 mV, when the ferromagnet mass is
beyond this value. The maximum amplitude has been
increased further. That reality proves us that there exists an
measured as 42 mV at load-free case and the secondary
optimum amount of ferromagnet, which yields to the maximal
maximums are obtained for 3.6 Ω. The increase in resistance
flux variation by time for the core and that is strictly depend
generally linear beyond 0.5 Ω and the maximum voltage has
on the iron dust mass (i.e. ferromagnet mass). A detailed
been measured at 38 Hz according to Fig. 5(a).
analysis should be performed in order to determine the
optimum mass value.

Figs. 4(a,b) presents the waveforms at other excitation

frequencies. Since the sloshing motion is a complicated
motion phase, it strictly depends on the excitation frequency.
Indeed, the fluid exhibits a variety of turbulence motion for
high frequencies such as 90 Hz.
The waveforms are complicated in Figs. 4(a,b), since they
have additional high frequency components even for
increasing output load. Here the maximum amplitude 8 mV is
achieved for Fig. 4(a), whereas, it gives 16 mV for 3.6 Ω (see
in Fig. 4(b)). The load does not change the waveform, whereas
it enhances the amplitude to some extend. Beyond 60 Hz, the
amplitude has superharmonics and the ideal sinusoidal
waveform is diminished.

(a)
View publication stats
(b)
(c)
Fig. 2. (a) Maximum voltage versus output resistance. (b) Maximum voltage
versus excitation frequency. (c) Maximum power versus excitation
frequency. The granular mass is 28.7 g.
In addition, f= 50 Hz also gives high voltage amplitude, while
the lowest maximum is measured at f= 90 Hz. The reason for
that is the superharmonic components at the output and that
occurs due to the turbulent nature of sloshing motion inside
the core. According to Fig. 5(b), the maximum voltage is
measured between 25 Hz and 75 Hz, which is fairly good
value than the any other solid cores. Indeed, solid cores give
maximum voltage for very narrow excitiation frequency [14].
But in our case, this result is better than the findings from
many other ferrofluids in the literature.
Fig. 5(c) presents the power variation with respect to
excitation frequency. Here the ban width for the maximum
power is seen clearly. In parallel with Fig. 5(b), the frequency
range of 25 Hz - 75 Hz gives the maximum power at RL= 1.6
Ω, where the inner impedance of the winding exists. Note that
there is slight difference between the power values of RL=1.6
Ω and RL=0.62 Ω. The maximum electrical power P= 1 mW
has been obtained from the harvester. The power levels
decrease to 0.3 mW - 0.4 mW values for high resistances.
V. CONCLUSIONS
A new fluid cored electromagnetic harvester has been
designed and implemented. The harvester works with a non-
ferromagnetic fluid and ferromagnetic granules. It has a
broad frequency regime from 25 Hz to 75 Hz for the
externally applied axcitations. The maximum power has been
achieved at RL=1.6 Ω, where the impedance of the coil exists.
A power of 1 mW has been obtained at the optimum load
conditions. That value is relatively high, when it is compared
to our ferromagnetic fluid devices in the literature. A
maximum amplitude of 42 mV has been achieved from the
harvester. While the waveforms are sinusoidal for the
frequencies lower than 60 Hz, the harvester produces some
harmonic distortions due to the turbulent fluid state at hşgher
frequencies. However, it is also interesting that this device
can harvest low energy even at higher frequencies.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This device has been patented under the application No.
2019/07503 and the title “Manyetik tanecikli manyetik
olmayan akışkan içeren nüveli enerji hasat cihazı” at Turkish
Patent Institute (TPI).
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