PIEZOELECTRIC VIBRATION ENERGY HARVESTER - DESIGN AND PROTOTYPE

This paper proposes a new approach for vibration energy harvesting analysis. The research investigates and compares efficiencies of a vibration energy harvesting system with two different electric storage interface circuits. One of the interface circuits is the standard interface circuit comprised of four rectifier diodes connected in a classical single phase bridge. The other interface circuit is a newly proposed interface circuit integrated with a voltage multiplier, an impedance converter and an off shelf booster. To validate the effectiveness of the newly proposed interface circuit, a vibration energy harvesting beam system has been developed in connection with this proposed circuit. The harvested efficiency and harvested power output of the system with the two different electric storage interface circuits have been measured and compared.