Summary
This study discusses the stochastic behaviour of vibroimpact oscillators featuring dielectric elastomer membranes designed for vibration energy harvesting. In these devices, a ball moves freely within a forced cylindrical capsule, intermittently colliding with both ends, covered with dielectric membranes to harvest mechanical energy. The interaction of the rolling motion, impacts and friction introduces stochastic behaviour, even in case of deterministic forcing and constant parameters. In this talk we compare several stochastic mechanical models of the vibro-imapct oscillators to measurements done on a physical device to find an efficient and concise model that reproduces the observed behaviour with high fidelity.
