Power–bandwidth–voltage interaction in piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters with constrained load voltage

Abstract

This paper analyzes the power–bandwidth–voltage interaction in a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester (PVEH) system, specifically accounting for the operating voltage constraint imposed by the interface power electronics (PE). The analysis is sufficiently generic to apply to different linear PVEHs with their interface PE. The power–bandwidth–voltage relation derived here outlines the best possible PVEH system performance when the PVEH-PE interface voltage is constrained, as is often the case in IoT applications. Alternatively, it can serve as a figure of merit with which to benchmark the performance of existing PVEH systems, and identify best design practices.