Displacement Amplification Using a Compliant Mechanism for Vibration Energy Harvesting

In this paper, we introduce a symmetric five-bar compliant mechanism for the displacement amplification of mechanical vibration. When the proposed mechanism is connected to an energy harvester, input excitation vibrations to the mechanism are amplified, which leads to an increase in harvested power. The mechanism is composed of both rigid links and flexure hinges, which enable deflection. The flexure hinges we use are either of the right-circular, or the corner-filleted types. The mechanism is analyzed using a pseudo-rigid-body-model, where flexure hinges are substituted with rotational springs. We developed an analytical model of the displacement amplification, which was validated both experimentally and numerically using a finite element model. Our model reveals that the displacement amplification is a function in design parameters, such as the geometry of the mechanism, the flexure hinges stiffness, in addition to the load caused by the harvester. The effects of the flexure hinge dimensions on the flexure hinges stiffness, and thus on displacement amplification were investigated. Preliminary experiments indicate the success of our proposed mechanism in amplifying small excitation harmonic inputs and generation of power.