Whisk-Inspired Motion Converter for Ocean Wave Energy Harvesting

Abstract

Inspired by hand push whisk blenders that are widely used in the kitchen, we here propose an energy harvester that enables conversion of low-frequency translational vibration to high-speed rotations and further generates electricity via the electromagnetic effect. The whisk-inspired energy harvester (W-EH) is composed of an internal thread sleeve, an external thread driving shaft, a spring, and a buoy. Compared with transmission approaches used by the electromagnetic power generators, the proposed design has the superiority of low cost, ultralow operation frequency (lower than 1 Hz), and high-power output. Tests in water indicate that the normalized power density is 300% higher than state of the art. Excited by mimicking ocean waves at 1.5 Hz, the W-EH prototype generates a maximum power of 64.4 mW and succeeds in lighting up 115 LEDs simultaneously, whose power is enough for continuous operations of most wireless sensors.