Comparison between piezoelectric and magnetic strategies for wearable energy harvesting

This paper introduces the design and fabrication of energy harvesters for the power generation from human body motion. Two alternative strategies are compared: piezoelectric and magnetic inductive. The generated energy is used to supply body sensors including accelerometers and temperature sensors and RF module. Two prototypes of the magnetic based generator and of the piezoelectric generator are built and tested with shaker at resonance condition and by dedicated bench reproducing joints rotation during walking. The experimental results show that the magnetic prototype can generate 0.7mW from human body motion, while the piezo harvester generates 0.22 and 0.33μW respectively for flexion and extension at angular velocity lower than 1rad/s and 45° amplitude.