Abstract
This paper presents for the first time a method to measure the capacitance variation of electrostatic vibration energy harvesters (e-VEHs) that employ conditioning circuits implementing a biasing scheme that can be represented by a rectangular charge-voltage diagram. Given the increasing number of e-VEHs using such complex conditioning circuits and the complex dynamics that are induced from this type of biasing, a mean to assess this measurement is of primary importance for the analysis of e-VEHs. The proposed method is based on the inspection of the voltage evolution across two simple conditioning circuits implementing a rectangular charge-voltage diagrams biasing scheme. After the method is presented, it is carried out for the characterization of a state-of-the-art MEMS e-VEH.
Highlights
Recent research on micro-machined electrostatic vibration energy harvesters (e-VEHs) have shown that the electrical conditioning and load interfacing part of such systems is critical to the performances in terms of harvested power
The way this type of biasing affects the device’s dynamics via the electromechanical coupling effect is still unclear: semi-analytical approximations are possible for a limited range of input conditions [5], no measurement method allowed to measure the electromechanical coupling effect on the dynamics of a given e-VEH
In particular no method was reported for the measurement of the extremal values of capacitance variation for a device submitted to harmonic input excitation and biased following a rectangular QV diagram
Summary
Recent research on micro-machined electrostatic vibration energy harvesters (e-VEHs) have shown that the electrical conditioning and load interfacing part of such systems is critical to the performances in terms of harvested power. In the light of this consideration, researchers have started to investigate new types of conditioning circuits [1, 2, 3] These new conditioning circuits have in common that their biasing of the transducer, across one cycle of its capacitance variation, can be summarized by a rectangular charge-voltage characteristic diagram (QV diagram) [4]. A simple method is proposed to carry out such a measurement This method only involves the use of characterization equipment that is typically found in MEMS e-VEHs characterization labs, i.e., generic electronics components, characterization gear, and a mechanical shaker. This method is based on the dynamics of two simple circuits implementing biasing schemes described by rectangular QV diagrams. After a brief presentation and analysis of these circuits, the method is presented and carried out as an example on a state-of-the-art micro-machined, symmetrical gap-closing geometry e-VEH
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