A Magnetostrictive Electric Power Generator for energy harvesting from traffic: Design and experimental verification

In this paper, we propose an approach to the design of a magnetostrictive electric power generator for energy harvesting from traffic, and we validate it experimentally. We use the dynamic Preisach hysteresis model (DPM) for magnetostrictive materials, operating in hysteretic and time-varying nonlinear regimes to design and simulate a magnetostrictive electrical power generator. The DPM is a development of the classical Preisach model, which is able to include the dynamical features in the mathematical model of hysteresis. We measure the output power capability of the generator, and we show how it is comparable to other energy-harvesting technologies.