Single-switch inductorless power management circuit for electrostatic vibration energy harvesters

Abstract

This paper presents a new power management circuit for electrostatic vibration energy harvesting devices. Compared to most of the existing electronic interfaces dedicated to electrostatic vibration energy harvesting, this circuit presents three main advantages. Firstly, it does not include any inductive element, enabling drastic miniaturization. Secondly, the switch control does not need to be synchronized with the mechanical motion of the electrostatic device and thirdly, the energy conversion cycle is self-maximized and does not require any optimization algorithm, enabling thus simple, ultra-low power implementation of the circuit.