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Thermodynamics of small electromagnetic generators: An experimental perspective

Abstract:

The fabrication of relatively small electromagnetic generators has been reported recently in the literature by a number of research groups. Their characteristic sizes are of the order of one millimeter. With proper tune up, these devices have been used to convert waste ambient vibration noise into useful electric power. We would like to analyze, including experimental considerations, the possibility of reducing the size of the generator to nanometer scale allowing, in principle, the exploitation of more subtle sources of vibrations. We propose a technique for fabricating small coils using nanowires and derive an approximate expression for evaluating the mechanical stress on the nanowire. For an ideal model of a micrometric sized electromagnetic generator we estimate the strength of the induced electromotive force (EMF) and compare it with the intrinsic electrical noise present in the nanowire. We found the strength of the induced EMF to be larger than the electrical noise by two orders of magnitude which is an encouraging result.