Experimental Investigation to Enhance Performances of MRE in Energy Harvesting

stract. The so-called “Smart Systems” are increasingly wide-spread impacting extremely different fields, that range from production systems to transport systems up to instrumented dress. For the correct functioning of these systems, it is necessary to use sensors that must be powered. When, for environmental or technical reasons it is not possible to employ cables or batteries, the sensors must be self-powered. The set of technologies used to transform energy dispersed in the environment into electrical energy useful for powering the sensors is called Energy Harvesting (EH). In this paper is investigated the use of Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) as transducer for the conversion of mechanical vibration energy in electrical energy. The energy conversion, based on the “Villari Effect”, is obtained from the strain of a MRE pad immersed in a magnetic field. The device must also include a magnetic circuit and a coil. The behaviour of two types of specimens is investigated: the first made only with rubber while the second composed by rubber and thin iron sheets. The study made by means of an experimental test rig showed a noticeable increase of output voltage when the iron discs are also used. The paper represents a contribution to researches in the field of Sustainable Development Goals number seven: Affordable and Clean Energy.