A self-powered H-Bridge joule theory circuit for piezoelectric energy harvesting systems

Abstract

In this paper, investigation of high direct current/voltage (DC) and power gains using H-Bridge joule theory (HBRJT) circuit with an input voltage of alternating current/voltage (AC) is carried out by avoiding higher switching frequency and additional switches for piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) systems. The interventions of the proposed HBRJT circuit delineate the boost conversion topology from AC that is generated by the piezoelectric generator (PG) as a result of the excitation into DC and eliminates the usage of additional switches, inductors, capacitors, duty cycles that result in higher output DC voltage. The proposed topology integrates the implications of both the H-Bridge and joule theory circuits. One additional feasibility of the proposed circuit is that it does not require an additional power supply to trigger the switches. In order to validate the effectiveness of the HBRJT circuit, both simulation and experimental results were presented. In the experiment, a series of testing scenarios were carried out, namely varying the frequency with fixed input voltage and cold start-up at a high frequency. The outcome of the proposed circuit is compared with the conventional H-Bridge, Dual-stage H-Bridge (DSHBR) and literature circuits. When contrasted to H-Bridge DSHBR circuits, the proposed circuit significantly boosts the input low AC voltage into high DC voltage. In addition, compared to structures with an H-Bridge, DSHBR, and literature circuits, the HBRJT circuit is more feasible to achieve supposed voltage and power gains without duty cycles and auxiliary circuits.