Inspired by the two typical movement stages in the wingbeat cycle of a seagull in flight, a bio-inspired bistable wing-flapping energy harvester is proposed in this paper to effectively convert low-frequency, low-amplitude and random vibrations into electricity. The movement process of this harvester is analyzed, and it is found that it can significantly alleviate the shortcomings of stress concentration in previous energy harvester structures. A power-generating beam composed of a 301 steel sheet and a PVDF (polyvinylidene difluoride) piezoelectric sheet with imposed limit constraints is then modeled, tested and evaluated. The energy harvesting performance of the model at low frequencies (1-20 Hz) is experimentally examined, where the maximum open-circuit output voltage of the model reaches 11,500 mV at 18 Hz. With a 47 kΩ external resistance of the circuit, the peak output power of the circuit reaches its maximum state of 0.734 mW (18 Hz). When a full bridge circuit is employed to convert AC to DC, the 470 μF capacitor connected to it reaches 3000 mV at peak voltage after 380 s of charging.
Keywords: bistable; energy barrier; low frequency; s-type.