CEE Seminar: Broadband Energy Harvesting Driven by Low-Frequency Ambient Vibrations

Wednesday, June 1, 2016 - 3:00 p.m. to Thursday, June 2, 2016 - 3:55 p.m.
Engineering Hall 2430 Colloquia Room
Ya Wang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering
State University of New York

Abstract: Ambient vibrations have a broadband nature and are particularly rich in the low-frequency regions. This talk introduces energy harvesting driven by ambient vibrations using piezoelectric and magneto-restrictive materials. The harvesting principles are elaborated and illustrated through several applications, including an ocean wave energy converter with tunable resonance, a broadband nonlinear magneto-electric energy harvester, and a footstep energy harvester with deformable frame. The amount of energy may not be large, but sufficient for powering wireless sensor nodes, elastomer actuators, wearable electronics and medical devices etc. This presentation also discusses the synthesis of Au-mSiO2 coated magnetic nanoparticles and their potential applications in hyperthermia cancer treatment and bone regeneration.  

Speaker Bio: Ya Wang is an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, State University of New York, Stony Brook. Before then, she was a postdoc research fellow at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan (2012 - 2013). She received her doctorate (2007 – 2012) in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech under the supervision of Professor Daniel J. Inman. Wang is active in research involving smart materials and structures as applied to sensing, energy harvesting and control. Her work has been sponsored by AFOSR, DOE-ARPA-E, ONR, UTRC, NY State and local industrials. She was awarded Special Congressional Recognition in 2015. Wang has authored one book chapter, 18 journal papers and 22 conference proceeding papers and is an editorial board member for the International Journal of Mechanical Systems Engineering.