This paper presents a design and optimization strategy for resonant electromagnetic vibration energy harvesting devices. An analytic expression for the magnetic field of cylindrical permanent magnets is used to build up an electromagnetic subsystem model. This subsystem is used to find the optimal resting position of the oscillating mass and to optimize the geometrical parameters (shape and size) of the magnet and coil. The objective function to be investigated is thereby the maximum voltage output of the transducer. An additional mechanical subsystem model based on well-known equations describing the dynamics of spring-mass-damper systems is established to simulate both nonlinear spring characteristics and the effect of internal limit stops. The mechanical subsystem enables the identification of optimal spring characteristics for realistic operation conditions such as stochastic vibrations.With the overall transducer model, a combination of both subsystems connected to a simple electrical circuit, a virtual operation of the optimized vibration transducer excited by a measured random acceleration profile can be performed. It is shown that the optimization approach results in an appreciable increase of the converter performance.
In this paper, a fully CMOS integrated active AC/DC converter for energy harvesting applications is presented. The rectifier is realized in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS process without special process options. It works as a full wave rectifier and can be separated into two stages-one passive and one active. The active part is powered from the storage capacitor and consumes about 600 nA at 2 V supply. The input voltage amplitude range is between 1.25 and 3.75 V, and the operating frequency range is from 1 Hz to as much as several 100 kHz. The series voltage drop over the rectifier is less than 20 mV. Measurements in combination with an electromagnetic harvester show a significant increase in the achievable output voltage and power compared to a common, discrete Schottky diode rectifier. The measured efficiency of the rectifier is over 95%. Measurements show a negligible temperature influence on the output voltage between −40 • C and +125 • C.
The development of distributed wireless sensor systems for automotive, medical or industrial monitoring applications is one of the aims for MEMS technology. For applications where environmental vibrations are present, the harvesting of this kinetic energy is an opportunity to power remote sensor nodes. For the conversion, typically resonant spring–mass–damper systems are considered. In this paper, a novel non-resonant conversion mechanism is presented. Depending on the geometry of the harvester and the vibration, this conversion mechanism shows a few advantages: low frequencies can be converted, higher or lower modes of vibration will be converted instantaneously, the transducer has 2 DOF for energy conversion and the generation of energy is not limited to a small frequency band. Based on a vibration amplitude of 100 µm, the behavior of a fine-mechanical generator and a MEMS generator has been simulated. The results of the fine-mechanical generator were verified by measurements of a prototype with 1.5 cm3 volume. So far the transducer is capable of producing 0.4–3 mW for vibration frequencies ranging from 30 to 80 Hz.
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