抄録
This paper introduces a novel application of giant magnetostriction materials which is able to generate electric power by utilizing a reverse transduction of the material called Villari effect. The generator is assumed to use ambient vibrations as an energy source which are commonly available in our daily life such as vehicle vibration in driving, traffic-induced ground vibration or bridge vibration. We mainly use Terfenol-D as a magnetostriction material in order to develop two prototype generators, one large and one small. The basic characteristics of the generators are examined such as power generated and effect of prestress. In particular, the experimental results indicate that the compact generator is suitable for energy harvesting. The generator itself is quite rigid and its resonant frequency is in the order of a few kHz. However, according to preliminary experiments conducted, the generator can harvest non-trivial energy out of even low-frequency vibration such as less than 10Hz. Also Terfenol-D and relatively new Galfenol are compared in their performances.
