Bistable energy harvesting backpack: Design, modeling, and experiments

Inspired by the dynamics of the noninertial systems, a novel bistable energy harvesting backpack is proposed that improves biomechanical energy harvesting performance. In contrast to traditional bistable energy harvesters that use an oblique compressed spring, a new bistable backpack is developed that uses the change of a spring torque direction located on a pinion. A detailed nondimensionalized model of the novel bistable energy harvesting backpack is developed and analyzed. Based on the dynamic bistable model, the influence of the carried backpack mass on the symmetry and the bifurcation frequency and amplitude of oscillation is examined to determine the ideal design parameters of the bistable backpack for experimental analysis and prototype manufacture. A comparison is made between the new bistable backpack and a traditional linear backpack under both harmonic and human walking excitation. The new bistable backpack design exhibits an improved frequency bandwidth from 1 Hz to 1.65 Hz at the base harmonic excitation of 2 m/s² and the harvesting performance is enhanced from 2.34 W to 3.32 W when the walking speed is 5.6 km/h. The bench and treadmill tests verify the theoretical analysis and demonstrate the ability of the bistable energy harvesting backpack for broadband and performance enhancement.