Jeff Scruggs

My current research pertains to vibratory electromechanical systems in which energy efficiency plays an important role. Subsets of such technology include self-powered structural control systems and vibration energy harvesting systems.

A self-powered vibration control system consists of a network of electromechanical transducers that suppress structural dynamics by converting vibratory energy into electrical energy. This electrical energy is then reused at a later time or by another transducer in the network, and is also used to overcome parasitic losses. One interesting application concerns the enhancement of the resilience of buildings and bridges during seismic events.

Vibratory energy harvesting systems are electromechanical devices that are expressly designed to extract maximal electrical power from vibratory mechanical phenomena for use by other systems. Currently the main application focus is on utility-scale ocean wave energy systems. Other applications include piezoelectric energy harvesters for wireless sensors, as well as electromagnetic harvesters for automotive suspensions.

For these technologies, my work focuses primarily on the analysis of their behavior in stochastic and uncertain environments, the use of feedback control to optimize their performance, and on their experimental validation.

Professional Service

• ASCE Society Editor, American Control Conference
• Associate Editor, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
• Associate Editor, Mechatronics (Elsevier)
• Chair, Technical Committee on Power Generation, IEEE Control Systems Society
• Society memberships: ASCE, IEEE, HKN