An experimental study on self-powered vibration control and monitoring system using electromagnetic TMD and wireless sensors

This paper proposed and validated a self-powered vibration control and monitoring (SVCM) system which consists of a pendulum-type tuned mass damper (TMD), a rotary electromagnetic (EM) device, an energy harvesting circuit (EHC) and a wireless smart sensor (WSS). As the key element in the system, the regenerative electromagnetic TMD (EMTMD) is able to convert vibration energy of structures to electrical energy, and thus plays dual functions, namely, vibration mitigation and energy harvesting. With the aid of EHC, the electrical energy can be further stored and used to power WSS that closely monitor structural vibration responses. The feasibility of the proposed SVCM system was validated via shaking table tests, in which a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structural model equipped with the SVCM system was tested under random excitations. The functionality of the SVCM system was discussed with regard to the vibration control, energy harvesting and vibration monitoring performance. The experimental results revealed that the proposed regenerative EMTMD device can provide regenerative and economical power to WSS. The harvested power reaches about 312.4 mW under random ground motions with root-mean-square (RMS) acceleration equal to 0.05 g. Meanwhile, the comparison shows that the peak magnitude of the frequency response function of structural displacement is reduced by 10 dB with the aid of the EMTMD. This study demonstrates that the SVCM system provides a novel and promising solution to the power supply problem associated with wireless sensing technology, and will stimulate the integration of vibration control and monitoring system.