Energy Harvesting from Electromagnetic Field Surrounding A Current Carrying Conductor

Abstract — With the rapid expansion of portable consumer and industrial devices, there is a present need for small, wireless, and portable power sources. Aside of traditionally used batteries, energy harvesting is one of the options that seems particularly attractive and cost efficient. This paper presents a novel method of retrieving energy from an electromagnetic field surrounding a current-carrying conductor. The device consists of a piezoelectric material sandwiched between two permanent magnets. The force created by the interaction of the field with the magnets actuates the piezoelectric, which in-turn generates electric energy. The Comsol Multiphysics modeling software was used to optimize the performance and geometry of the device. The operation of the energy harvester was verified experimentally and tested under various load conditions. The proposed energy harvester, with its modular design, allows for convenient output power adjustment enabling it to be applicable to a wide array of applications.