Analysis of MEMS electrostatic energy harvesters electrically configured as voltage multipliers

TL;DR

This paper analyzes a diode-capacitor based voltage multiplier circuit for MEMS electrostatic energy harvesters, demonstrating high output voltage at low accelerations and overcoming key limitations of existing topologies.

Contribution

It introduces an efficient, diode-capacitor based interface circuit for MEMS energy harvesters, capable of high voltage output at low accelerations, with detailed modeling and simulation validation.

Findings

Achieves 22 V output at 0.15 g acceleration

Allows operation with capacitance ratio below 2

Outperforms other topologies in saturation voltage

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of an efficient alternative interface circuit for MEMS electrostatic energy harvesters. It is entirely composed by diodes and capacitors. Based on modeling and simulation, the anti-phase gap-closing structure is investigated. We find that when configured as a voltage multiplier, it can operate at very low acceleration amplitudes. In addition, the allowed maximum voltage between electrodes is barely limited by the pull-in effect. The parasitic capacitance of the harvester and non-ideal characteristics of electronic components are taken into account. A lumped-model of the harvesting system has been implemented in a circuit simulator. Simulation results show that an output voltage of 22 V is obtained with 0.15 g input acceleration. The minimum necessary ratio between the maximum and minimum capacitances of the generators which allows operation of the circuit, can be lower than 2. This overcomes a crucial obstacle in low-power energy harvesting devices. A comparison between the voltage multiplier against other current topologies is highlighted. An advantage of the former over the latter is to generate much higher saturation voltage, while the minimum required initial bias and the minimum capacitance ratio in both cases are in the similar levels.