IET Circuits, Devices & Systems

Research Article

Bridgeless active rectifier for piezoelectric ISSN 1751-858X

Received on 26th November 2018

energy harvesting
Revised 19th June 2019
Accepted on 23rd June 2019
E-First on 22nd October 2019
doi: 10.1049/iet-cds.2018.5576
www.ietdl.org

Raghavendran Srinivasan1, Umapathy Mangalanathan1 , Uma Gandhi1, Lakshmi Ravikularaman

Karlmarx2
1Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India
2Department of Mechatronics, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
E-mail: umapathy@nitt.edu

Abstract: The low power energy harvesters need efficient single-stage direct ac–dc conversion evading diode bridge rectifier.
An active rectifier circuit is proposed for piezoelectric energy harvester working on the principle of the buck–boost converter.
The active rectifier circuit provides dual output with a reduced number of components. The analysis of the active rectifier is
carried out, and expression for the optimum duty cycle is derived for maximum power extraction. The active rectifier
configuration is extended for connecting multiple piezoelectric energy harvesters, and maximum power extraction is achieved
through time multiplexed switching of energy harvesters. Proposed active rectifier topology is validated through simulation and
experimentation. The results demonstrate that the harvested power is improved by the factor of 1.4 and 3.2 for single input and
multiple input configurations, respectively, as compared to the power harvested using dual output rectifier. The charging time of
the supercapacitor is reduced by 17 min while charging through the single input configuration and 15 min while charging through
the multiple input configuration of the proposed active rectifier circuit.

Nomenclature impedance matching circuit to transfer maximum power to the load

[12]. Most of the conventional energy harvesters utilise two-stage
Cp piezoelectric capacitance interfacing circuits: a diode bridge rectifier and a dc-to-dc
Do1,Do2 diodes converter [13–17]. However, the major disadvantages in using the
D1 optimised duty cycle of the active bridge rectifier two-stage interfacing circuits for low power piezoelectric energy
fs switching frequency harvesters are the forward voltage drops in the diodes and power
L inductor losses. These drawbacks make the power conversion very
Ip current generated in piezoelectric inefficient.
ICp current through the piezoelectric capacitance Attempts were being made to realise single stage ac–dc
Pin input power of the active bridge rectifier converter to overcome the flaws in the two-stage interfacing
circuits. Direct ac/dc topologies have been reported especially for
Pls the power loss in the bidirectional switch low power energy harvesting in recent times. A direct AC–DC
Plcon conduction loss in the bidirectional switch boost converter is proposed in [18]. The topology excludes the
Plsw switching loss in the bidirectional switch diode bridge and utilises a bidirectional switch to achieve AC–DC
PlBD power loss in the body diode of bidirectional switch conversion. However, the topology requires complex polarity
PlD power loss in the diodes Do1, Do2 detector and split capacitor. Polarity detector introduces some loss
PlL power loss in the inductor into the system. The spilt capacitors make the system bulky. A
PlT total power loss in the active rectifier synchronous boost rectifier is proposed in [19] for vibration-based
energy harvesters. However, a control circuit is required for tuning
Rpiezo impedance of the piezoelectric patch
the damping factor under different operating conditions so that
Rin average input resistance of the active rectifier optimum power can be extracted from the energy harvester. It also
VD forward voltage drop of diode utilises two magnetic inductors which makes the system bulky.
Vp voltage across the terminals of piezoelectric energy An AC–DC step-up converter is proposed in [20] for low power
harvester energy harvesting. The circuit works in boost mode in a positive
Vo load voltage half cycle and buck–boost mode in the negative half cycle. So, it
ω resonant frequency of the beam requires a control system to adjust the duty cycle for two modes of
η efficiency of the active rectifier operation. The polarity detector and multiple inductors employed
in this system increase the complexity of the system. A bridgeless
1 Introduction converter is proposed in [21] for energy harvesting application. It
involves a complex feedback controller for impedance marching.
The piezoelectric energy harvester is always a preferable choice as Moreover, the switch count is also more. In this circuit
vibration energy harvester because of large power density and configuration also polarity detector and multiple inductors are
higher output voltage which makes them viable for many practical utilised. A simple bridgeless boost rectifier is proposed in [22]
applications. Research is carried out to enhance the performance of which utilises a single inductor to condition the positive and
the piezoelectric energy harvesters, in terms of structural tailoring negative cycles of the input. The circuit works in boost and buck–
[1–4], widening the operating frequency range [5–7] and boost mode. Feedback control is utilised for regulating the output
interfacing circuits [8–11]. In energy harvesting systems, power voltage. A single-stage step-up rectifier is proposed for low voltage
electronic converters play a key role as interfacing circuit between energy harvesting in [23]. It avoids the polarity detector. However,
harvester and load. The power electronic converter performs it requires two split capacitors which make the system bulky. A
regulation of power delivered to the load, and it acts as an active
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Fig. 1 Proposed active rectifier
Fig. 2 Modes of operation of the circuit
Fig. 3 Waveform of the proposed active rectifier circuit
rectifier-free harvesting circuit is proposed in [24] for piezoelectric
energy harvesting. It avoids the polarity detector and split
capacitors, and only one inductor is utilised. However, the switch
count is more. Inductorless switched capacitor converter circuit
with dynamic configuration of piezoelectric energy harvesters is
IET Circuits Devices Syst., 2019, Vol. 13 Iss. 7, pp. 1078-1085
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
proposed in [25]. Switched capacitor converter circuits involve
more switches based on the level of boosting.
Though the above-discussed circuit configurations achieve
single stage AC–DC conversion avoiding diode bridge, they
involve either multiple magnetic inductors or polarity detector or
feedback control which do not shun the system complexity and
improve the efficiency. An active bridgeless rectifier circuit with
dual output capability is proposed in this paper for piezoelectric
energy harvesting, which utilises a bidirectional switch, an
inductor, and two diodes. The proposed active rectifier circuit does
not involve the polarity detector and feedback control.
It is always necessary for an energy harvester to supply power
to more than one device. Multi-input buck–boost converter is
proposed in [26] for piezoelectric energy harvesting. However, it is
a two-stage interfacing circuit. Scalable synchronised switch
harvesting on inductor (SSHI) and synchronous electric charge
extraction (SECE) is proposed [27] for interfacing multiple
piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH). However, the lossy polarity
detector is used to detect the source voltage inversion. A single-
input dual-output bridgeless rectifier for piezoelectric energy
harvesting is proposed in [28]. The proposed rectifier provides dual
output. However, the maximum power extraction stage is not
incorporated in the rectifier. The active rectifier proposed in this
paper is extended for connecting multiple piezoelectric energy
harvesters. Each energy harvester will be connected to the active
rectifier circuit through their respective bidirectional switches.
The main contributions of this work are: introducing an active
rectifier topology for piezoelectric energy harvesting. The
expression for the optimum duty cycle is derived for maximum
power extraction. The active rectifier configuration is extended for
connecting multiple piezoelectric energy harvesters. The
expression for optimum ON time for each harvester connected to
the active rectifier circuit for maximum power extraction is
derived.
The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 explains the
operating principle of the proposed active rectifier circuit. In
Section 3, steady-state analysis of the active rectifier is carried out,
and expression for the optimal duty cycle is derived for maximum
power extraction. Efficiency analysis is carried out in Section 4.
The analysis is carried out for multi-input configuration in Section
5. Section 6 presents the simulation of the active rectifier for single
input and multiple input configurations. The performance of the
converter circuit is evaluated experimentally for both single input
and multiple inputs in Section 7, and finally, the concluding
remarks are presented in Section 8.
2 Operation of the proposed circuit
The proposed active rectifier circuit is shown in Fig. 1. It consists
of a bidirectional switch Sw, an inductor L, two diodes Do1 and Do2
and two filter capacitors C1 and C2. The rectifier is connected to
the piezoelectric energy harvester represented by its equivalent
circuit current source (Ip) in parallel with the internal capacitance
Cp. The operation of the active rectifier shown in Fig. 2 is
explained with the help of waveforms shown in Fig. 3 as follows.
Mode I: The first mode operation begins with turning the switch Sw
ON in the positive half cycle of the source voltage. The inductor
will be connected in parallel with the source when the switch is
turned ON. So, the voltage across the inductor is equal to the
source voltage. The inductor (L) current (IL) rises linearly from
zero. Meanwhile, the diodes Do1 and Do2 are reverse biased. The
output capacitors C1 and C2 supply power to their respective loads
R1 and R2. For the case, when the source voltage is higher than the
load voltage, the diode Do1 will be forward biased. The source,
inductor, and load are connected in parallel. So, the voltage across
the source is dropped to load voltage. Now, the diode Do1 is
reverse biased. This phenomenon happens in a very short time, that
is during the rising edge of the switching signal. Hence, this time
interval can be neglected. In mode I,
ICp = IP − IL; 0 ≤ t ≤ D1T s, (1)
1079
 dvo D1
Cp = I p − I L, (2) Vo = V . (11)
dt D2 in

where ICp is the current through Cp. 3.1 Optimisation of duty cycle
Mode II: This mode begins when the switch Sw is turned OFF. The For low power applications, the power converters operating in
inductor current freewheels through diode Do2 to charge the DCM are often preferred to reduce the switching losses. The
capacitor C2 and the load R2, till the inductor current reaches zero. average input current of the active rectifier circuit operating in
The output capacitor C2 is charged while C1 is discharged to the DCM is derived from the inductor current expression as a function
load R1. The voltage across the inductor equals to the capacitor of switching frequency fs, inductor L and duty cycle D1
voltage (VC2). During this mode,
D1T s
1 V pD12
ICp = Ip; D1T s ≤ t ≤ D2T s, (3)
Iin avg =
Ts ∫0
iL t dt =
2L f s
. (12)

dvo The average input power in a switching period is expressed as

Cp = Ip . (4)
dt
Mode III: When the inductor current reaches zero, the diode Do2 V p2 D12
Pin = V p ⋅ Iin avg = . (13)
turns OFF. The loads R1 and R2 are supplied from capacitors C1 2L f s
and C2. Then the operation of the rectifier returns to Mode I again
when the switch is turned ON. The active rectifier continues to This study mainly focused on the maximisation of input power. For
operate in modes I, II and III, till the input voltage is positive harvesting maximum power from the PEH, the impedance of the
PEH should match with the average impedance of the active
ICp = Ip; D2T s ≤ t ≤ T s, (5) rectifier circuit.
The average impedance of the active rectifier circuit derived
dvo from (12) and (13) is given by
Cp = Ip . (6)
dt 2L f s
Mode IV: This mode starts when the input voltage is negative. Rin = . (14)
When the switch Sw is turned ON, the inductor current rises D12
linearly but in reverse direction to that of mode I. The diodes Do1
The impedance seen at the Piezo terminal is expressed as
and Do2 are reverse biased. The output capacitors C1 and C2 supply
power to their respective loads R1 and R2. 1
Mode V: This mode begins when the switch Sw is turned OFF; the
RPiezo =
ωCp
, (15)
inductor current now freewheels through diode Do1, till the energy
in the inductor is transferred to the capacitor C1 and load R1. The where Cp is the capacitance of piezoelectric patch and ω is the
output capacitor C1 is charged while C2 is discharged. The voltage resonant frequency of the beam.
across the inductor equals to the capacitor voltage (VC1). The optimised duty cycle of the active rectifier for maximum
power transfer can be derived by matching the average impedance
Mode VI: When the inductor current reaches zero, the diode Do2
at the rectifier input terminal with the impedance of the Piezo.
turns OFF. The output capacitors supply power to the load. Mode From (14) and (15), the optimised duty cycle is derived as
IV to VI operation of the rectifier repeats, till the input voltage is
negative.
D1 = 2L f s ω Cp . (16)

3 Steady-state analysis The optimal duty cycle of the active rectifier is thus dependent
The dynamics of the inductor current in the positive half cycle of upon its inductance and switching frequency, the capacitance of the
the input voltage in a switching interval with the switching period piezoelectric patch and frequency of mechanical excitation of the
of Ts and with the duty cycle of D1 can be expressed as piezoelectric device.

diL 4 Efficiency analysis

L = V p 0 ≤ t ≤ D1T s , (7)
dt The efficiency analysis of the active rectifier is based on the
following assumption: Power losses corresponding to the
diL V o2, positive cycle capacitors’ equivalent series resistances are neglected.
L = D1T s ≤ t ≤ D2T s , (8)
dt V o1, positive cycle The loss in the bidirectional switch comprises of conduction
loss and switching loss and are expressed as
diL
L = 0 D2T s ≤ t ≤ T s , (9) PlS = Pl con + Pl sw + Pl . BD, (17)
dt

where Vp is the voltage across the piezoelectric terminal and Vo1, where Pl con is the conduction loss, Pl sw is the switching loss, and
and Vo2 are the voltages across the load resistances R1 and R2, Pl BD is the body diode loss.
respectively.
For R1 = R2 = R, Vo1 = Vo2 = Vo; Then (8) is simplified to 2
PlS = Iin
1 2
(18)
RMS ⋅ Rds on + Coss . V p + V BD . Iin avg,
2
diL
L = Vo . (10) where VBD is the forward voltage of the body diode of the
dt
MOSFET.
The active rectifier is working in buck–boost mode. According to The RMS value of the input current (Iin RMS) is given by the
inductor volt–second balance, the expression for load voltage is expression
given by
D1
Iin RMS = IL pk . (19)
3
1080 IET Circuits Devices Syst., 2019, Vol. 13 Iss. 7, pp. 1078-1085
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 PlT
η=1− . (25)
Pin

Based on the earlier equations,

k1 + k2 + k5 k kD kD
η=1− + 3 + 4 2+ 6 2 , (26)
k7 k7V p k7V p k7

where

k1 = D13Rds on /3L2 f s2 , k2 = Coss /2 , k3 = V BDD12 /2L f s , k4

V DD1 D1 D3 D2 D12
= , k5 = 21 2 , k6 = 21 2 , k7 = ,
2L f s 3 3L f s 3L f s 2L f s
2L f s
D2 = .
R

According to (26), the efficiency is proportional to Vp and load

resistance with other parameters fixed. Larger Vp and R leads to
higher efficiency. During each half cycle, one of the loads is
supported by the corresponding output capacitor for the entire
Fig. 4 Multi-input active rectifier cycle. So, in each half cycle, one MOSFET, body diode of the other
MOSFET, inductor, one diode (either Do1 or Do2) and the load are
effective in operation. The efficiency of the rectifier is measured
with the change in load.

5 Active rectifier connected with multiple PEHs

When multiple piezoelectric energy harvesters are connected to the
active rectifier, the impedance matching requires time multiplexed
operation of the rectifier circuit. Time multiplexed operation is the
augmentation of ‘n’ number of sources and synchronises their
operation in multiplexed switching mode. Each source is connected
to the active rectifier circuit through a bidirectional switch as
shown in Fig. 4. The time multiplexed operation is explained in
Fig. 5.

5.1 Analysis
In this mode of operation, each source is connected to the active
rectifier for a period of Ti (i = 1 to n) in the total time period of Tl.
In the time interval Tn, the high-frequency pulses of time period Th,
with 50% duty cycle is applied to the corresponding switches.
Fig. 5 Waveform for time multiplexed operation The time period Tl is represented in terms of high-frequency
switching period Th as
The loss in the diodes Do1 and D2 is
(x + y) ⋅ T h = T l . (27)
PlD = V D ⋅ ID avg, (20)
During the period of Ti, the switch Swi is turned ON for ‘x’ number
where VD is the forward voltage of the diode. of high-frequency switching cycles, while the switch Swi is
The average diode current is given by completely turned OFF for ‘y’ number of high-frequency switching
cycles. In this paper two piezoelectric energy harvesters, PEH-I
D2 and PEH-II are considered for experimental evaluation.
ID avg = IL pk . (21)
2 The dynamic equations in the positive half cycle are given by
The loss in the inductor is expressed as follows V p1, 0 ≤ t ≤ t1
diL
2
PlL = IL RMS ⋅ RL . (22)
L = V o, 0 ≤ t ≤ t2 , (28)
dt
0, 0 ≤ t ≤ t3
The RMS value of the inductor current (IL RMS) is given by the
expression V p2, 0 ≤ t ≤ t4
diL
L = V o, 0 ≤ t ≤ t5 , (29)
dt
(D1 + D2) 0, 0 ≤ t ≤ t6
IL RMS = IL pk . (23)
3

The total loss is

PlT = Pls + PlD + PlL . (24)

The expression for efficiency is

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 −V o 2
x Vp ⋅ D Th
, 0 ≤ t ≤ t1 0 ≤ t ≤ t4 Iin avg = , (33)
RC2 x+y 2L
dvo 1 vo
C2 = −i − , 0 ≤ t ≤ t2 0 ≤ t ≤ t5 , (30) V p ⋅ D2T h
dt C2 L R Iin avg = u , (34)
−V o 2L
, 0 ≤ t ≤ t3 0 ≤ t ≤ t6
RC2
where u = x/ x + y , the ON time of the piezoelectric energy
harvester.
dvo −V o T
C1 = , 0≤t≤ . (31) From (34), the average input resistance of the active rectifier
dt RC1 2 circuit is given by
During the negative half cycle, (30) and (31) are swapped between Vp
capacitors C1 and C2. Rin = , (35)
Iin avg
The average input current of the active rectifier circuit in TMS
mode of operation can be derived from the inductor (L) current 2L
IL(t). Rin = . (36)
u D2T h
Th
Iin avg =
x
x + y ⋅ Th ∫ 0
IL t dt, (32) The optimum ‘u’ for maximum power transfer is derived by
matching the impedance of the piezoelectric energy harvester and
active rectifier circuit.
From (15) and (36)

2LωCp
u= . (37)
D2T h

The optimum value of ‘u’ for the nth piezoelectric energy harvester
is

2L
un = . (38)
RPiezon D2T h

The optimal ON time for each energy harvester is thus dependent

upon the impedance of the respective piezoelectric patch,
inductance of the active rectifier circuit, the duty cycle and
switching frequency of the high-frequency pulse.

6 Simulation results
The proposed active rectifier circuit is simulated using PSIM
software. The simulation circuit is shown in Fig. 6a. The
piezoelectric energy harvester is represented with its electrical
equivalent comprising of AC current source (Ip) in parallel with the
internal capacitance of the Piezo (Cp). The properties of the beam
and the piezoelectric materials are given in Tables 1 and 2. ****
The magnitude of the current Ip is obtained from the open
circuit voltage of the piezoelectric energy harvester

Table 1 Dimension and properties of piezoelectric element

[29]
Description Value Units
piezo-I length 0.05 m
width 0.025 m
thickness 0.0005 m
Young's modulus 47.62 GPa
density 7500 kg m−3
piezoelectric constant −16.6 cm−2
piezoelectric charge coefficient −274 pCn−1
capacitance 68 nF
piezo-II length 0.076 m
width 0.025 m
thickness 0.0005 m
Young's modulus 47.62 GPa
density 7500 kg m−3
piezoelectric constant −16.6 cm−2
piezoelectric charge coefficient −274 pCn−1
Fig. 6 Simulation diagram
(a) Single input active rectifier, (b) Two input active rectifier capacitance 90 nF

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Table 2 Dimension and properties of aluminium beam
Description Value Units
length 0.153 m
width 0.025 m
thickness 0.002 m
Young's modulus 71 GPa
density 2700 kg m−3
resonant frequency 53 Hz

Fig. 9 Photograph of the experimental setup

Table 3 List of components

Components Part number Value
MOSFET IRF 540 Ron – 0.05 Ω
diode 1N5817 VF – 0.45 V
inductor 1.5 mH Esr 3.8 Ω
capacitor electrolytic 10 μF
optocoupler 6N135 —
super capacitor 0.22 F 2.5 V

Fig. 7 Simulated waveforms

(a) Input and output voltage waveforms, (b) Inductor and diode current waveforms

Fig. 10 Experimental waveforms of input and output voltage and gate

pulses

Fig. 11 Power output vs. load

Fig. 8 Simulated Input voltages of PEH-I and PEH-2 along with gate
pulses and output voltage
Ip = ωCpV oc .
The resonant frequency of the beam is 53 Hz. The piezoelectric
energy harvester is connected to the active rectifier. The parameters
IET Circuits Devices Syst., 2019, Vol. 13 Iss. 7, pp. 1078-1085
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of the PEH-I given in Table 1 are used for simulation. The voltage
measured at the output of the rectifier is the open circuit voltage
(Voc) and is found to be 6.57 V. The optimised duty cycle D1
obtained from (16) is 0.02. Fig. 7 shows the output and input
voltages and inductor and diode current waveforms obtained in the
simulation for the load resistance of 40 kΩ. The voltage ‘Vp’ is
alternating in positive and negative directions with the magnitude
of 1.65 V and the output voltage is 1.58 V. The shape of the Vp is
(39)
almost similar to that of the one which is realised when the PEH is
connected to the bridge rectifier. The inductor current and diode
current is also shown. They are in agreement with the theoretical
results.
1083
 The simulation is extended for two PEHs connected at the input
of the active rectifier and the simulation diagram is shown in
Fig. 6b. The time period Th of the clock signal is determined by
sweeping the frequency in the range of 10–60 kHz and fixed at 22 
μs (45 kHz) where maximum power is measured at the load. The
low-frequency time period Tl at which each energy harvester
connected to the load is selected as twice the frequency of the
vibrating frequency, which means 9.43 ms (106 Hz). The switching
Fig. 12 Power output vs. duty cycle time for PEH-I (T1) and PEH-II (T2) is determined from (38) as
132 and 110 μs, respectively. The voltage across terminals of the
PEH-I and PEH-II along with switching pulses and output voltage
are shown in Fig. 8. The average voltage of the PEH-I is 5.53 V
and PEH-II is 8.5 V.

7 Experimental results
The prototype for the proposed active rectifier tested with
piezoelectric energy harvester is shown in Fig. 9. An aluminium
cantilever beam is used as a vibrating structure. As the strain
developed is maximum near the fixed end of the cantilever beam,
Fig. 13 Efficiency vs load resistance
the piezoelectric patch is bonded on the top surface of the beam
near the fixed end. The properties of the piezoelectric patches and
aluminium beam are given in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The
beam is excited using electromagnetic exciter. The magnitude of
the vibration of the beam is in proportion with the excitation
voltage applied to the exciter. The excitation voltage is applied
from an arbitrary waveform generator. The piezoelectric energy
harvester is connected to the load through the active rectifier
circuit. Table 3 shows the elements used in the active rectifier
circuit. The gate pulse for driving the switch Sw is generated from
the Arduino microcontroller board. The voltage at the input
terminals of the active rectifier, gate pulse applied to the switch
with an enlarged view and the voltage across one of the loads are
shown in Fig. 10. The simulation is done with ideal components
with no losses. However, the actual components used in
experimentation have losses. The reduction in the magnitude of the
voltage as compared with the simulation result is due to the drop
across the devices. The power across one of the loads connected to
the active rectifier circuit is measured for a range of load resistance
and is shown in Fig. 11. Also, the results are compared with the
two output diode rectifier circuit. The power across the load
increases along with load resistance and the power attained for a
100 kΩ resistance connected with the active rectifier circuit is 1.4
times higher than the dual output diode rectifier circuit.
Fig. 12 shows the power harvested for a range of load resistance
with different duty cycle around the optimum duty cycle value
obtained theoretically. It is observed that the optimum duty cycle
outperforms other duty cycle values. The efficiency of the
converter with respect to load resistance is shown in Fig. 13. When
the load is varied from 60 to 100 kΩ, the efficiency is varied from
55% to 68%.
In this range, the output voltage is just above the input voltage
Fig. 14 Experimental waveform of input voltage of PEH-I and PEH-II and of the active rectifier. Two numbers of 0.22 F supercapacitors are
output voltage charged through the active rectifier circuit. The charging time of
the supercapacitors when charged from the active rectifier is 105 
min, and two input diode rectifier circuit is 122 min when the
electromagnetic exciter is excited at 20 VPP.
Then the experimentation is also performed for two PEHs
connected to the active rectifier. Two piezoelectric patches are
bonded on top and bottom surfaces of the cantilever beam near the
fixed end of the beam. Fig. 14 shows the voltages at the two piezo
terminals (Vp1 and Vp2) along with the respective gate pulses (VG1
and VG2) and the output voltage Vo. As a measure of safety, to
Fig. 15 Power output vs. load for two input active rectifier
avoid any simultaneous conduction of the switches Sw1 and Sw2, a
small time delay is introduced between the switching signals of Sw1
Table 4 Performance comparison and Sw2. The power extracted across the load connected to the
Ref Source Output power, mW η, % Comp. count active rectifier circuit is measured for a range of load resistance
[17] piezoelectric 0.05 50–60 high and is shown in Fig. 15. The result is compared with the series
connected and parallel connected dual output diode rectifiers. From
[24] piezoelectric 54.5 40–71 low
the results, it is observed that the proposed active rectifier circuit
proposed piezoelectric 1.7 55–68 low outperforms the other two circuits. In this case, also the
supercapacitors are charged. The charging time of the

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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
supercapacitors is 64 min while charging with the active bridge
rectifier and 79 min with two input diode rectifier circuit. The
performance of the proposed active rectifier is compared with other
low power bridgeless converter circuit and is tabulated in Table 4.
The evolution of the CMOS technology makes the power
consumption of the wireless sensor nodes to come down <1 mW.
The designed prototype of the piezoelectric energy harvesting
system, which generates >1.5 mW of power, can be employed for
powering the wireless sensor node directly and excess power can
be utilised for charging the supercapacitor. With the dual output
capability of the proposed active rectifier circuit, supplying sensor
node and supercapacitor charging can be carried out
simultaneously.
8 Conclusion
A single-stage active rectifier topology for piezoelectric energy
harvesting application is proposed in this paper. The topology
integrates rectifier and buck–boost converter into a single stage to
condition the positive and negative half cycles of the input. The
significant features of this topology are dual output capability and
compactness. Only one inductor and two diodes are required in this
topology. The proposed topology has the advantage that it can be
extended for connecting multiple piezoelectric energy harvesters
without any modification in the structure of the rectifier circuit
except by adding bidirectional switches for each harvester. The
expression for optimum duty cycle meant for maximum power
extraction is derived for connecting single piezoelectric energy
harvester and multiple piezoelectric energy harvesters, and it
reveals that the duty cycle is constant irrespective of amplitude of
input excitation. The designed prototype extracts power from the
PEH 1.4 times higher than dual output diode rectifier in single
input configuration and 3.2 times higher in the multiple-input
configuration. The charging rate of the supercapacitor is improved
with the proposed active rectifier circuit. The future application of
the proposed conversion circuit includes sourcing of wireless
sensor nodes.
9 Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY),
Government of India.
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