磁歪式振動発電を用いた歩行発電用デバイスの構造の検討

抄録

For safety of night walking, there are luminescent shoes flashing with walking motion. These power supplies are batteries, power generation by walking has attracted attention of reducing batteries, and power generation shoes are being developed. However, power generation shoes have yet to be practical realization. We considered using a magnetostrictive vibration generator developed in our laboratory as the power source for power generation shoes. This generator has advantages over conventional piezoelectric or movable magnet types in terms of high efficiency, high robustness and low electrical impedance. Although it was confirmed that the LED flashes by walking using the magnetostrictive vibration generator attached to the sole, there was a problem of miniaturization and high sensitivity. On the other hand, it was found that the fluctuation of the nonmagnetic gap due to the vibration is effective for increasing the sensitivity. In this report, we propose a design method of power generation device with consideration of assist effect. Next we tried and evaluated the thickness of the magnetostrictive element (Fe-Ga alloy) and frame (magnetic material) as parameters and verified the design method. From the results, we report the design guidelines for miniaturization and the small device confirmed luminescence by walking motion.