An Efficient Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Interface

An Efficient Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Interface Circuit Using a Bias-Flip Rectifier and Shared Inductor

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Ramadass, Y.K., and A.P. Chandrakasan. “An Efficient Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Interface Circuit Using a BiasFlip Rectifier and Shared Inductor.”Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal Of 45.1 (2010) : 189-204. © 2010 IEEE. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/jssc.2009.2034442 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Final published version Tue Sep 11 16:53:56 EDT 2012 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62174 Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher'ssite for terms of use.

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IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, VOL. 45, NO. 1, JANUARY 2010

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An Efficient Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Interface Circuit Using a Bias-Flip Rectifier and Shared Inductor
Yogesh K. Ramadass, Member, IEEE, and Anantha P. Chandrakasan, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—Harvestingambient vibration energy through piezoelectric means is a popular energy harvesting technique which can potentially supply 10–100’s of W of available power. One of the main limitations of existing piezoelectric harvesters is in their interface circuitry. In this paper, a bias-flip rectifier circuit that can improve the power extraction capability from piezoelectric harvesters over conventionalfull-bridge rectifiers and voltage doublers by greater than 4X is implemented in a 0.35 m CMOS process. An efficient control circuit to regulate the output voltage of the rectifier and recharge a storage capacitor is presented. The inductor used within the bias-flip rectifier is shared efficiently with a multitude of switching DC-DC converters within the system reducing the overall component count. IndexTerms—Bias-flip rectifier, DC-DC converter, full-bridge rectifier, inductor sharing, micropower, piezoelectric harvester.

I. INTRODUCTION

W

ITH the need for portable and lightweight electronic devices on the rise, highly efficient power generation approaches are a necessity. The dependence on the battery as the only power source is putting an enormous burden in applications where either due to size,weight, safety or lifetime constraints, doing away with the battery is the only choice. Emerging applications like wireless micro-sensor networks [1], implantable medical electronics and tire-pressure sensor systems [2] are examples of such a class. It is often impractical to operate these systems on a fixed energy source like a battery owing to the difficulty in replacing the battery. The ability toharvest ambient energy through energy scavenging technologies is necessary for battery-less operation. A 1 cm primary lithium battery has a typical energy storage capacity of 2800J [3]. This can potentially supply an average electrical load of 100 W for close to a year but is insufficient for systems where battery replacement is not an easy option. The most common harvesters transduce solar,vibrational or thermal energy into electrical energy. The vibrational harvesters use one of three methods: electromagnetic (inductive), electrostatic (capacitive) or piezoelectric. The thermoelectric harvesters exploit temperature gradients to generate power. Most harvesters in practically usable forms can
Manuscript received April 04, 2009; revised July 11, 2009. Current version published December 23,2009. This paper was approved by Guest Editor Kevin Zhang. This work was supported by DARPA. The authors are with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA. Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSSC.2009.2034442

provide an output power of 10–100 W [4], setting...