Wideband excitation of an electrostatic vibration energy harvester with power-extracting end-stops

Abstract

An electrostatic energy harvester with two-stage transduction is investigated for enhancement of bandwidth and dynamic range. The harvester includes a primary proof mass with two main transducers and end-stops for the proof mass functioning as secondary transducers. In the small acceleration regime, the power is primarily obtained from the main transducers. In the high acceleration regime, the mass impacts the end-stops and actuates the secondary transducers, generating additional output power. The device is designed and fabricated using the SOIMUMPs process and has a total active area of 4 × 5 mm2. Under wideband acceleration at high levels, the experimental results show that the total output power increases to about twice the output power of the main transducers, while the 3 dB-bandwidth is enlarged by a factor of 6.7 compared to the linear-response bandwidth at low levels. In comparison with a reference device made with the same die dimensions, the two-stage device improves output power instead of saturating when the maximum mass displacements of both devices reach the same limit. Measurement of output power demonstrates that the device with the transducing end-stops give an efficiency of 23.6%, while this value is 14.1% for the reference device with the conventional end-stops, at an acceleration spectral density of Sa = 19.2 × 10−3 g2 Hz−1. The efficiency is improved about by 9.5% in the impact regime.