Modeling and Analysis of Wave Energy Harvester with Symmetrically Distributed Galfenol Cantilever Beams

Materials (Basel). 2023 Aug 11;16(16):5585. doi: 10.3390/ma16165585.

Abstract

In response to the challenges of difficult energy supply and high costs in ocean wireless sensor networks, as well as the limited working cycle of chemical batteries, a cylindrical wave energy harvester with symmetrically distributed multi-cantilever beams was designed with Galfenol sheet as the core component. The dynamic equation of the device was established, and ANSYS transient dynamic simulations and Jiles-Atherton hysteresis model analysis were conducted to develop a mathematical model of the induced electromotive force of the Galfenol cantilever beam as a function of deformation. Experimental validation demonstrated that the simulated results of the cantilever beam deformation had an average error of less than 7% compared to the experimental results, while the average error between the theoretical and experimental values of the induced electromotive force of the device was around 15%, which preliminarily verifies the validity of the mathematical model of the device, and should be subject to further research and improvement.

Keywords: Galfenol; cantilever; energy harvester; wave energy.