VIBRATION ELEMENT COUPLED WITH NON-LINEAR FORCE TO IMPROVE NON-RESONANT FREQUENCY RESPONSE

摘要

Embodiments of the invention couple a non-linear force to a vibration element such as a piezoelectric cantilever to introduce chaotic, i.e., non-resonant vibration in the vibration element and thereby improve the non-resonant response of the vibration element. By doing so, the vibration element is responsive to a wider frequency range of vibrations and thus may be more efficient in scavenging energy in environments where the vibration frequency is not constant, e.g., in environment subject to multi-mode or random vibration sources.