RESTORING THE PASSIVITY OF SHUNT DAMPING CIRCUITS BASED ON THE SYNTHETIC INDUCTANCE BY THERMAL ENERGY HARVESTING

Abstract

For decades people have used ambient energy, e.g., that of rushing streams or wind to obtain usable power. Starting with very low energy conversion, through constant development we have now reached the stage of extensive possibilities of harvesting the energy from the environment we live in. Today, there exist almost unconstrained opportunities to energize a broad spectrum of devices by energy available almost anywhere and of whichever form. One of the great advantages of energy harvesting is to make small electronic devices autonomous eliminating the need ofpower supply and mainte­nance. Shunt damping systems are unfavorably influenced by the size and mass of the coil inductors. While substituting bulky inductors with synthetic inductors one losses the passivity of the system gaining its practicability. Nevertheless, in order to outperform the actively driven systems, it is indispensable to return the passive properties of the system maintaining its performance. This paper presents the feasibility study ofpowering the passive shunt damping devices by the work that is lost irrevocably in a bearing node. The heat generated in a bearing is converted via the thermoelectric phenomenon and then used to power the synthetic inductance circuitry. In the paper it is shown that the required power levels can be satisfied by the thermoelectric generator paired to a moderately loaded bearing.