ASSAM UNIVERSITY

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

Interface Circuit

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of
B.tech

in
Electronics and Communication Engineering

Submitted By:
Amit Kumar
Registration No. :43-160081247 of 2016-17
Ankeet Debnath
Registration No. :43-160081248 of 2016-17
Baba Pegu
Registration No :43-160081259 of 2017-18

Under the guidance of:

Dr Richik Kashyap

Triguna Sen School of Tehnology

Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering Assam University, Silchar 788011
ASSAM UNIVERSITY
January 30, 2020
 Declaration of Authorship
I, the undersigned, declare that this thesis titled, ’Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting
Interface Circuit’ and the work presented in this thesis is my own. I confirm that this
work submitted for assessment is my own and is expressed in my own words. Any
uses made within it of the works of other authors in any form (e.g., ideas, equations,
figures, text, tables, programs) are properly acknowledged at any point of their use .
To the best of my knowledge and belief, the same thesis has not been submitted
either by me or by any other person for the award of any other degree or diploma of
the university or other institute of higher learning.

Amit kumar (Roll No- 31430030)

Ankeet Debnath(Roll No- 31430031)

Baba Pegu(Roll No- 31430042)

Date: 31th, Nov 2020

Place: Assam University

i
 Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering Assam University, Silchar-788001

Certificate

This is to certify that the thesis entitled Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

Interface Circuit and submitted by ANKEET DEBNATH, AMIT KUMAR, BABA
PEGU to the Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Assam
University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the the award of the
Degree of B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering is a
bonafide record of the work carried out by them under my supervision.It is
further certified that the candidate has complied with all the formalities as per
the requirements of Assam University.

Dr Richik Kashyap (Supervisor)

Name of HOD

External Examiner’s Name & Signature

Date and Seal

 “You have to dream before your dreams come true.”

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

 Acknowledgements
 Foremost, We would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr
Richik Kashyap,Asst. Prof. Dept of Electronics and Communication engineering for
the continuous support of our study and research, for his patience, motivation,
enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. His in- spiring guidance, constructive
criticism and valuable suggestions helped me a lot throughout the time of research
and writing of this report. Without his help, the report could never have been
completed.We would also like to thank all my friends for their help and support.
Lastly, We would like to express our thanks and regards to my family for fulfilling
all my needs throughout the work and always.
Abstract
Piezoelectric materials play an important role for electronic devices such as
actuators, sensors, accelerators, ultrasonic motors, transducers, filters and
resonators, and micro electromechanical systems (MEMS). Piezoelectric materials
can convert a mechanical deformation into electricity. They have been used for
making electrical transducers, mechanical sensors, and energy har- vesters.
Conventionally, piezoelectric materials are prepared either from inorganic
compounds containing toxic elements or polymers, which require a series of
treatments including drawing at a high ratio and poling in a high electric field at an
elevated temperature. Piezoelectric materials are widely used as touch-sensitive
sensors and switches. These materials are also used in buzzers and speakers to
convert electric energy to mechanical/acoustical energy. The electromechanical
conversion can be reversed by applying a mechanical force to the piezoelectric
material, so that we can generate an electric voltage that can be stored, converted,
and used to supply a low power wireless circuit. Recent advancements in technology
scaling and its successful integration with Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
technology have paved the way for self-powered autonomous electronic devices and
ICs.

In this project work, we have gone through various types of energy harvesting
circuits. Among those energy harvesting circuits, one circuit i.e. Self-Powered
Synchronous Switch Harvesting on Inductor (SP-SSHI) using buck-boost converter
is facing the problem of less power efficiency and peak voltage. So form here our
works begin. First of all, we simulated the existing SP-SSHI Circuit and obtained its
V-I waveform. Then we improved the same V-I waveform by making some necessary
changes in the existing SP-SSHI circuit. After this we designed a proposed Self-
Powered Synchronize Switch Harvesting on Inductor (SP-SSHI) Circuit with Buck-
Boost converter which has the ability to dealof less power efficient and peak value.
At the end, we practically implemented the proposed SP-SSHI Circuit with another
DC-DC
v
Contents

Declaration of Authorship I

Certiftcate Ii

Abstract Iv

Acknowledgements v

Contents vi

List of Figures vii

1 Introduction 1
1.1 1.1 Energy Harvesting from Ambient Vibrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 1.2 Piezoelectric Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Literature Review 4
2.1 Related Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 Proposed Work 5
3.1 Definition of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2 Our work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4 Implementation Details 6
4.1 Aim of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2 Our implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.3 Environment & Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

5 Conclusion 10
5.1 Conclusion and Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

6 Conclusion 11

References 11
 List of
Figures
Figure 1 : Direct Piezolectric Effect

Figure 2 : Indirect piezoelectric Effect.

Figure 3 : KY DC-DC Buck Boost Converter

Figure 4 : SP-SSHI circuit

Figure 5 : Improved SP-SSHI circuit

Figure 6 : Output Waveform Of Improved SP-SSHI

circuit.

Figure 7 : SP-DSSH circuit

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Energy Harvesting from Ambient Vibrations

Brothers Pierre and Jaques Curie first demonstrated the piezoelectric effect, in the
year 1880, nowadays it is used in many everyday products such as lighters,
loudspeakers and signal trans- ducers, the applications are endless.

[1]. This section will present a basic overview of this effect, how it arises and how it
functions. Overall this theoretical background is intentionally kept superficial as the
focus of this thesis is the energy harvesting application, however before discussing
that there is a need to provide some level of understanding of the piezoelectric effect
itself. Power consumption in electronic components has always remained a major
issue for the microelectronics industry. As such, researchers have invented
numerous miniature power technologies to sufficiently power and drive the portable
electronics. Solar cells, fuel cells, lithium batteries, thermoelectrics, vibration based
energy harvesters etc. are the frontiers of existing miniature power technologies

[2]. However, each of the methodologies of power generation does have some
advantages as well as disadvantageous associated with them. As shown in Figure
1.1, the power density of the solar cells is highest of all the available power
generation technologies. Power is generated through a photovoltaic mechanism
wherein the sunlight is converted efficiently to electrical energy.

[3]. Less portability due to large surface area of cell arrays, requirement of
continuous sunlight and high cost are the major issue that limits the use of solar
cells. Fuel cells have hydrogen fuel source as anode and oxygen source as cathode.
The anode and cathode exchange ions through an electrolyte producing electricity.
They also produce high power densities next to solar mechanism. They are quiet and
have low emissions and serve as efficient heat and power systems. Nevertheless they
are less stable at high temperature operations and also have high cost of 2
production. Today Lithium ion batteries are most commonly used for powering the
1
portable electronic gadgets.

1
Chapter 1. Introduction 2

1.2 Piezoelectric Effect

The conversion of mechanical energy into electrical one is generally achieved by

means of electro- magnetism (electro-magnetic induction). But there are other
physical phenomena that can also convert mechanical energy into electricity
directly, one of which is piezoelectricity. Piezoelectric Effect is the ability of certain
materials to generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress
and reverse process is also possible.The word “piezoelectricity” is derived from a
Greek word “pizo” or “piezein” which means to squeeze or press. Hence, the
piezoelectric effect exists in two domains. They are:

1. Direct piezoelectric effect: Converts mechanical stress to emf i.e. when a

piezoelectric material is subjected to mechanical stress, the voltmeter connected to
its other two surface shows positive deflection, hence electro motive force (emf) is
generated.

2. Reverse piezoelectric effect: Converts electrical energy to mechanical compression or

expansion
i.e. when voltage is applied on two opposite surfaces of a piezoelectric material that
shows expansion. These two effects are described in the figure below:

Figure 1: Direct Piezoelectric Effect

The polarity emf generated across to surfaces of a piezoelectric material depends

upon the type of force it is subjected to; i.e. force is compressive or tensile. The
following figures explain detail about it

Figure 2: Indirect Piezoelectric Effect

Chapter 1. Introduction 3

In figure 1.2 shown above, when a compressive force is applied to a piezo electric
material, emf produced is positive in nature. Remaining the connection same if the
material is subjected to a 4 tensile force then the polarity will be opposite.

Recent technologies are all based upon automation and automation is incomplete
without sensors, transducers and actuators . Many pressure sensors, microphones
are using this piezoelectricity as the basis. Hence this is an important topic to
discuss about the applications of piezoelectricity
 Chapter 2

Literature Review

The piezoelectric energy harvesters exploit the direct piezoelectric effect of the
piezoelectricity to harvest energy from the surroundings. Direct piezoelectric effect was
discovered in 1880 by Pierre and Curie where they found that some materials generate
electricity from pressure. However the first application of piezoelectricity was a 50 KHz
Ultrasonic submarine detector made of thin quartz crystals during World War I. The
detector was based on reverse piezoelectricity which converts the electrical signals to
mechanical vibration. The piezoelectric harvesters [1]-[48] provides the highest power
density among the currently available vibration based harvesters viz. electromagnetic [49]-
[61], electrostatic [62]-[70], and piezoelectric. It is due to the fact that they possess very
high electromechanical coupling factor to efficiently convert the energy from ambient
vibrations to electrical energy.

The chapter provides a detailed review on the theoretical perspective of piezoelectric energy
harvesting ranging from the device level to its circuit implementation. It introduces some
basic concepts of piezoelectricity and piezoelectric energy harvesting and focuses on some
important analytical models of piezoelectric harvesters available in literature. Finally some
existing energy harvesting interface circuits are discussed. All the presented review
materials remain the backbone of the current project work.

2.2 Piezoelectricity

Piezoelectricity or the piezoelectric effect is the electromechanical coupling of a material,

transferring energy between the mechanical and the electrical domain of certain materials
or crystals. Those crystalline substances possess two types of piezoelectricity: the direct
and the reverse piezoelectricity. Usually, when a material is subjected to a force, strain is
developed which leads to polarization of the charges of the molecules within it. These
charges can flow if connected to a circuit to provide a large amount of electrical energy.
Such effect is known as direct piezoelectric effect [1]. The phenomenon was discovered by
Pierre and Curie in 1880 in tourmaline crystals. One year later they experimentally
confirmed the reverse piezoelectric effect which in simple terms is the vibration of the
molecules under the application of electricity. Quartz, topaz, PZT etc. is also found to
exhibit similar properties. The amount of strain produced during vibration is directly
proportional to the electric field applied. Theoretically, Lippmann derived the inverse
piezoelectricity law from the fundamental principles of thermodynamics. Both the
piezoelectric effects co-occur within the material. Hence in modeling or theoretically
predicting the nature of a piezoelectric material requires both the effects to be considered at

4
 Chapter 2
the same time as a reversible process. Thus it would be thermodynamically more
consistent. Figure 2.1 shows the formation of an electrical dipole moment due to
displacement of the charges within a crystal under the application of pressure.

2.3 Piezoelectric Materials

Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) [2] and Macro-Fiber Composites (MFC) [4] are the most
widely used piezoelectric ceramics for energy harvesting . The MFC was a highly innovative
and low cost invention by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the
last decade which leads to numerous piezoelectric transducers. It is thin patch of
piezoelectric fibers with epoxy matrix and polymide electrodes. It gets stretched on
application of electric field and strong enough to bend the surface upon which it is
attached with. High electromechanical coupling, flexibility and stability are the basic
features that make it more popular than the traditional ones. In 2007, the MFC was
conferred the title of “NASA invention of the Year”.

A MFC actuator is shown in Figure 2.2. PZT also have their piezoelectric properties on
microscopic level. Application of voltage generates electric dipoles and reorientation of the
molecular charges within the material. PZT-5A and PZT-5H are normally two types of PZT
ceramics. PZT is known for its low flexural rigidity, low cost, good electromechanical
coupling etc. PZT is of pervoskite crystal structure. Only below curie temperature, the
structures transforms to a tetragonal lattice form causing a redefined dipole moment within
the material. The formed dipole moments electrically induce dipole moment to its nearby
regions and soon regions with same polarity takes to form domains namely the 90 and 180
degree domains.

The polarizing directions which are perpendicular to each other are known as 90 degree
domain. Similarly domains with exactly opposite polarization directions are 180 degree
domains. We can control the orientation of the polarization by applying an electric field.
Usually the crystal axis decides the initial orientation of polarization. We cannot make
proper alignment of the polarization because of anisotropic nature of PZT material.

5
 Chapter 2
A MFC actuator is shown in Figure 2.2. PZT also have their piezoelectric properties on
microscopic level. Application of voltage generates electric dipoles and reorientation of the
molecular charges within the material. PZT-5A and PZT-5H are normally two types of PZT
ceramics. PZT is known for its low flexural rigidity, low cost, good electromechanical
coupling etc. PZT is of pervoskite crystal structure. Only below curie temperature, the
structures transforms to a tetragonal lattice form causing a redefined dipole moment within
the material. The formed dipole moments electrically induce dipole moment to its nearby
regions and soon regions with same polarity takes to form domains namely the 90 and 180
degree domains.

The polarizing directions which are perpendicular to each other are known as 90 degree
domain. Similarly domains with exactly opposite polarization directions are 180 degree
domains. We can control the orientation of the polarization by applying an electric field.
Usually the crystal axis decides the initial orientation of polarization. We cannot make
proper alignment of the polarization because of anisotropic nature of PZT material

Related Research

Paper Name: Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Interface Circuits.

author:A.Erturk D.J.Iman

Publication year:2011

proposed concept:Piezoelectric energy harvesting

Drawbacks:Less power utilisation and deformed peak voltage for SP-SSHI with buck-boost
circuit

6
 Chapter 4

Proposed Work

Definition of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

Piezoelectric materials can be used to convert oscillatory mechanical energy into electrical
energy. This technology, together with innovative mechanical coupling designs, can form
the basis for harvesting energy from mechanical motion. Piezoelectric energy can be
harvested to convert walking motion from the human body into electrical power

Renewable energy is the energy that is collected from renewable resources and due
to the rising depletion of fossil fuels, renewable energy is the source that humanity
turns to for harnessing electrical power. The power so obtained often needs DC-
better DC conversion for supplying the load properly. The boost converter are used
currently forthe chopper control in wind and solar power systems that provides a
response characteristics that can be improved,
by implementing a KY converter in place of the boost con-verter. The KY converter is
a step up DC-DC converter with transient response operating in CCM always with
low voltage ripple, non pulsating current and the KY converter provides a larger
voltage gain than the conventional boost converter. In this topology where it is
combined with buck boost converter but in this topology DCM is also possi-ble.
Simulation of conventional boost converter and KY
converter by MATLAB software is done for comparing the operation of the converters.
KY converter is implemented in hardware to study the operation practically and to
ver-ify the feasibility of using the converter in renewable energy systems.
Chapter 4

INTRODUCTION

In the modern society, DC-DC converters were widely used in portable electronic
devices such as: mobile phones, laptops and digital still cameras (DSC). In order to
converts the battery voltage into dif-ferent voltage domains. For power supply
applications using low voltage battery, in most instances, it is necessary uplift from
low voltage to high voltage, thus a boost converter is usually applied,but with a
pulsating output current leading to a large voltage ripple Moreover, the boost
converter consists of a right hand plane zero, which deteriorates the converter
stability and transient re-sponse performances. Recently, a voltage-boosting
converter has been proposed, named as KY converter. When this converter is
operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM), it has a lot of advantages such as
non-pulsating current, low output ripple, and good load transient response [2], [3],
which can eliminate the prob-
lems exhibited by the boost converter thus a KY converter can be used instead of
boost converter which will have better output re-sponse comparing with the
traditional boost converter. Hence this KY converter can be employed for delivering
power to the grid. A
solar panel is being used for delivering the DC supply and this DC voltage is stored
in the battery. The voltage thus stored in the battery is then given to the KY
converter for boosting its voltage level. Then the output of KY converter circuit is
given directly to the load. By this a continuous output can be obtained with re-
duced ripple counts. The circuit of KY converter can be designed which consists of a
diode, capacitors, a resistor and inductors.Thus
a better transient response can be obtained by using KY converter.Hence a ripple
free output with comparatively high efficiency can be obtained which can be
implemented for low power applications as mentioned above.
 Chapter 4

KY DC-DC CONVERTER

The KY DC-DC converter, taking the output inductor coppe resistance rL and output
capacitor series equivalent resistance rC into account.KY converter considering parasitic
elements.
The input voltage and output voltage are denoted by vi and vo respectively. Since the
voltage across Cb follows the input voltage vi entirely, the voltage across Cb can be defined
as vi [1]. The voltage across C is represented by vC. Moreover, the input curren is signified
by ii. The currents flowing through Cb, L and C are denoted by ib, iL and iC, respectively.

The basic operating principle of KY converter and the second-order derived KY converters
[5] are discussed here which alwaysoperate in CCM. As shown in Fig. 2(a), here only one
cell in the structure of the KY converter consists of two MOSFET switches S1 and S2 along
with diodes D1 and D2 , respectively, one diode Db ,and one energy transferring capacitor
Cb ; so the corresponding op-erating principle rule is that the turn-on type of these two
switches is (D, 1 D), where D and 1 D are for S1 and S2, respectively, and D is the duty
cycle of the PWM control signal for S1.

Figure 3: KY DC-DC Buck Boost Converter

 Chapter 4
Implementation Details
Our work

Our work is to improve the piezoelectric energy harvesting interface circuit with KY
converter.

Aim of the Project

The aim of the project is to implement designed self powered synchronized switch
harvesting on inductor circuit with buck boost converter or if any other Dc-Dc
converter required in LT SPICE XVIII

Our implementation

1.Designed of SP-SSHI Circuit

Figure 4 : SP-SSHI circuit

2.Improved of SP-SSHI Circuit

 Chapter 4

Figure 5 : Improved SP-SSHI circuit

3. Waveform of improved SP-SSHI Circuit

Figure 6 : Output Waveform Of Improved SP-SSHI

 Chapter 4

4. Designed SP-DSSH Circuit

Figure 7 : SP-DSSH circuit

5. SP-SSHI with KY Converter

Chapter 4. Implementation Design 7
Chapter 4. Implementation Design 8
 Chapter 4. Implementation Design 9

Environment & Tools

For designing the Interface Circuits we have used the tool LTspice XVII.
Chapter 5

Conclusion

Conclusion and Future Work

The piezoelectric energy harvesters are at the frontiers of current miniature power
technologies to drive the portable microelectronics components.

To work efficiently, a complete piezoelectric energy harvesting system requires

advanced elec- tronic control circuits to be interfaced between the generator and the
storage elements.

The V-I waveform of the existing Self-Powered Synchronous Switch Harvesting on

Inductor (SP- SSHI) Circuit.

Then the designed SP-SSHI circuit with buck-boost converter that has the ability to
deal with the problem of loading effect, which is a measure issue of existing circuit.

then practically implemented the SP-SSHI circuit with Buck-Boost Converter. The
practical results are quite up to our expectations and shows that the interface
circuit has more features than the existing circuit.

But SP-SSHI circuit has less power efficient so we have to improve the existing SP-
SSHI circuit with KY converter

10
Chapter 6
References

[1] Richik Kashyap, Trupti Ranjan Lenka and Srimanta Baishya- “Study of Doubly
Clamped Piezoelectric Beam Energy Harvesters with Non- Traditional
Geometries”.
[2]S.R. Anton and H. A. Sodano, “A review of power harvesting using
piezoelectric materials (2003-2006)”.
[3] S.Priya, “Advances in energy harvesting using low profile piezoelectric
transducers”.
[4] A. Erturk and D. J. Inman, Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting. Chichester, U.K.:
Wiley, 2011.
[5] S. R. Anton and H. A. Sodano, “A review of power harvesting using
piezoelectric mate- rials (2003– 2006),” Smart Mater. Struct., vol. 16, no. 3, pp.
R1–R21, Jun. 2007.
[6]G. K. Ottman, H. F. Hofmann, A. C. Bhatt, and G. A. Lesieutre, “Adaptive
piezoelectric energy harvesting circuit for wireless remote power supply,” IEEE
Trans. Power Electron., vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 669–676, Sep. 2002.