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2008 Smart Mater. Struct. 17 035030

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IOP PUBLISHING SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES
Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008) 035030 (8pp) doi:10.1088/0964-1726/17/3/035030

An optimized self-powered switching

circuit for non-linear energy harvesting
with low voltage output
Mickaël Lallart1,2 and Daniel Guyomar1
1
LGEF, INSA-Lyon, 8 rue de la Physique, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France
2
MATEIS, INSA-Lyon, 7 avenue Capelle, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France

E-mail: mickael.lallart@insa-lyon.fr

Received 9 January 2008, in final form 17 March 2008

Published 6 May 2008
Online at stacks.iop.org/SMS/17/035030

Abstract
Harvesting energy from environmental sources has been of particular interest these last few
years. Microgenerators that can power electronic systems are a solution for the conception of
autonomous, wireless devices. They allow the removal of bulky and costly wiring, as well as
complex maintenance and environmental issues for battery-powered systems. In particular,
using piezoelectric generators for converting vibrational energy to electrical energy is an
intensively investigated field. In this domain, it has been shown that the harvested energy can be
greatly improved by the use of an original non-linear treatment of the piezoelectric voltage
called SSHI (Synchronized Switch Harvesting on Inductor), which consists in intermittently
switching the piezoelectric element on a resonant electrical network for a very short time.
However, the integration of miniaturized microgenerators with low voltage output (e.g. MEMS
microgenerators) has not been widely studied. In the case of low voltage output, the losses
introduced by voltage gaps of discrete components such as diodes or transistors can no longer
be neglected. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to propose a model that takes into account
such losses as well as a new architecture for the SSHI energy harvesting circuit that limits such
losses in the harvesting process. While most of the study uses an externally powered
microcontroller for the non-linear treatment, this circuit is fully self-powered, thus providing an
enhanced autonomous microgenerator. In particular this circuit aims at limiting the effect of
non-linear components with a voltage gap such as diodes. It is shown both theoretically and
experimentally that the harvested power can be significantly increased using such a circuit. In
particular, experimental measurements performed on a cantilever beam show that the circuit
allows a 160% increase of the harvested power compared to a standard energy harvesting
circuit, while the classical implementation of the SSHI shows an increase of only 100% of the
output power in the classical case.

1. Introduction would supply microelectronic circuits to complete different

Thanks to the progress in microelectronics and in energy
harvesting, the conception of truly autonomous devices is
no longer chimerical [1]. Combined with the increasing
demand in fully autonomous networks, the domain of
sensing is about to experience a technological rupture
with the conception of fully self-powered, wireless devices
with local processing and communication abilities. Such
systems, having the possibility of scavenging the energy from
environmental sources such as heat, magnetic field or photons,
functions [2–7].
In particular, using the piezoelectric effect for converting
mechanical energy into electrical energy has been extensively
studied these last few years [8–15]. It has therefore been shown
that applying a non-linear treatment to the piezoelectric voltage
can greatly enhance the electromechanical conversion and thus
the amount of energy harvested. In this domain, the parallel
SSHI technique introduced by Guyomar, Richard et al, etc,
has been proven to be an efficient way for harvesting energy

0964-1726/08/035030+08$30.00 1 © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008) 035030
Figure 1. Standard circuit.
from vibrations in a fully self-powered manner [16–19]. A
similar technique, called series SSHI, has also been proposed
by Taylor et al in [20].
However, the need of integration limits the voltage
output of the piezoelectric elements. Consequently voltage
gaps introduced by non-linear elements such as diode bridge
rectifiers need to be as small as possible. In particular,
using the self-powered SSHI technique induces supplementary
voltage gaps that need to be addressed. Makihara et al
in [21] proposed a structure that reduces these losses, leading
to a gain of approximately 20% compared to the classical
implementation of the parallel SSHI. However, in this case
the command of the non-linear treatment is quite complex and
requires an externally powered DSP (Makihara used a DSpace
interface connected with a PC, for example), making the
technique useless for truly autonomous devices, as the amount
of harvested energy is often below a few tens of milliwatts
(while the DSP requires much more).
Thus the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it
aims at identifying the impact of voltage gaps that induce
losses in the harvested energy. Also, the impact of these
gaps in terms of harvested energy is derived analytically.
Second, this paper proposes a new architecture for the series
SSHI that can be truly self-powered, thus addressing the
issue of harvesting environmental energy for truly autonomous
devices. Theoretical predictions are confirmed by experimental
measurement that shows that the harvested energy gain is more
than 160% compared to the harvested energy using a standard
circuit (while the classical implementation of the series SSHI
leads to an gain of 100%). This paper is organized as follows.
Section 2 exposes the principles of the energy harvesting
circuit. Section 3 proposes a theoretical development of the
harvested energy for the different techniques and considering
voltage gaps of the harvesting circuits. Section 4 addresses the
issue of self-powering these circuits. Theoretical predictions
are then compared to experimental measurements in section 5.
Finally, section 6 concludes the paper.
2. Principles
This section aims at exposing the principles of energy
harvesting using either the standard technique, where the
piezoelement is directly connected to a diode bridge rectifier,
or the series SSHI technique, that includes electronic switches
connected in series with the piezoelement.
2.1. Standard technique
The circuit of the standard energy harvesting technique is
presented in figure 1. The piezoelement, which has a blocking
2
M Lallart and D Guyomar
Figure 2. Standard technique waveforms.
capacitance C0 , is directly connected to a diode bridge rectifier
(D1 , D2 , D3 , D4 ) and the energy is harvested on a storage
capacitor CS that is connected to the load RL . When the
absolute value of the piezoelement voltage is less than the
storage capacitor voltage VDC plus the diode bridge rectifier
voltage, then the piezoelement is in open-circuit condition and
the piezoelectric voltage varies with the displacement. When
the absolute value of the piezoelement voltage is equal to the
storage capacitor voltage plus the diode bridge rectifier voltage,
then there is an energy transfer from the piezoelectric element
to the storage capacitor through D1 (resp. D3 ) and D2 (resp. D4 )
when the piezoelectric voltage is positive (resp. negative).
Figure 2 depicts the typical waveforms of the standard energy
harvesting technique.
2.2. SSHI
Classical and new circuits for piezoelectric energy harvesting
using the so-called SSHI are presented in figure 3. S1
and S2 are electronic switches that are closed when the
piezoelectric voltage reaches a maximum and a minimum,
respectively. These switches are closed for a very brief time
period compared to the piezoelectric voltage period, thus
shaping an oscillating network with the inductor L . The
new circuit consists in separating the maximum and minimum
detection switches and replacing the diodes D2 and D3 by these
switches. Such a circuit presents two advantages. First, the
circuit includes less components, thus reducing the cost and
the dimensions of the circuit. However, its main benefit is the
removal of diodes that induce voltage gaps. Therefore losses
introduced by such voltage gaps in the harvesting circuit are
limited and the harvested power is thus greater. In the case
of the classical SSHI circuit, there is a current flow through
L , S1 (resp. S2 ), D1 (resp. D3 ), CS and D2 (resp. D4 ) when the
piezovoltage reaches a maximum (resp. minimum) that charges
the storage capacitor CS . The same process occurs for the
new proposed technique, but D2 and D3 are replaced by S1
and S2 , respectively. Thus the energy transfer is done through
D1 (resp. S2 ), CS and S1 (resp. D4 ) when the piezovoltage
reaches a maximum (resp. minimum). Consequently this
circuit eliminates the diodes D2 and D3 , thus removing the
voltage gaps introduced by these diodes. For the two circuits,
Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008) 035030
Figure 3. SSHI circuits: (a) classical circuit (refer to [20]); (b) new circuit for low voltage output.
Figure 4. SSHI waveforms.
the piezoelectric element is left in open-circuit (S1 and S2 open)
the rest of the time.
The closing time period ti (1) of the switches is given
as half the pseudo-period of the LC0 network (as VDC is
considered constant3 , the storage capacitor has no effect),
therefore leading to an inversion of the piezoelectric voltage
as depicted in figure 4. However, this inversion is not perfect
due to the internal losses of the circuit, and is characterized
by the coefficient γ that is related to the electrical quality
factor Q i as (2). Moreover in the series SSHI the inversion
is done relative to the voltage VS (resp. −VS ) when the
voltage is maximum (resp. minimum), with VS equal to the
storage capacitor voltage plus the voltage gap introduced by
the switches and the diodes. As well, the extremum detection
introduces a delay φ between the actual occurrence of an
extremum and the switch time instant. This delay is related
to the necessary voltage gap between the piezovoltage and
the envelope detector voltage (as explained in section 4) for
detecting an extremum. Therefore for high voltage values this
delay is negligible, which is, however, not the case for systems
with low voltage output:
 is in open-circuit when the displacement reaches its minimal
ti = π LC0 (1)
γ = e−π/(2 Q i ) .
3. Theoretical development
From the principles presented in the previous section it is
possible to derive the theoretical expression of the expected
3 This assumption is valid as long as the time constant R C is far greater
L S
than the charge transfer time period.
M Lallart and D Guyomar
output power of the piezoelectric microgenerator. This is
the purpose of the present section, which aims at giving the
theoretical expressions of the output power using either the
standard technique or the series SSHI (both for the classical
and the new circuits). As previously shown, this paper focuses
on microgenerators with low voltage input, and therefore the
voltage gaps introduced by non-linear components will be
taken into account. For the derivation of the theoretical output
power of the microgenerator, it is considered that the system
(e.g. a cantilever beam bonded by piezoelectric inserts) is
excited near one of its resonance frequencies on a single mode
(e.g. first flexural mode). In this case, it has been shown [22]
that the output current I of the piezoelectric device is given
by (3), with u̇ and V̇ the derivatives of the displacement and
the piezovoltage, respectively, and α and C0 the force factor
and the blocking capacitance of the piezoelectric element,
respectively:
I = α u̇ − C0 V̇ . (3)
3.1. Standard technique
In the case of the standard technique, the harvesting energy
process occurs when the piezovoltage is not in open-circuit
condition and equals the voltage VS . Considering figure 1, the
voltage VS is given by (4), where VDC is the storage capacitor
voltage (assumed constant) and VD is the voltage gap across
a single diode. The energy harvested during a single phase
(e.g. V positive) is given by (5) from (3), where u M and u 1
are the displacement magnitude and the displacement when the
piezovoltage reaches VS , respectively. The expression of u 1 is
derived considering the open-circuit state of the piezoelement.
In this case, I = 0 and consequently V varies accordingly
to the displacement as (6), with A an integration constant.
This constant is calculated considering the previous energy
extraction process (e.g. V negative). Indeed, the piezoelement
value −u M for this process. At this instant, the value of
(2) the piezovoltage is −VS , and therefore A is given as (7).
The displacement reaches u 1 when the piezovoltage reaches
VS , leading to the expression of the displacement u 1 as (8).
Therefore the harvested energy for a single extraction process
is given as (9). As such a process occurs twice a period
(once for positive voltage and once for negative voltage), the
output power of the microgenerator using the standard energy
harvesting technique is given by (10), with f 0 the frequency of
vibration. The maximal harvested power for a given vibration
3
Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008) 035030 M Lallart and D Guyomar

magnitude is given under condition (11), yielding the maximal power is given by (18) and the maximal harvested power is
harvested power (12): thus (19).
When using the new circuit proposed in this paper, the
VS = VDC + 2VD (4) voltage gap is reduced to only one diode and the closed
 switch yielding (20), and therefore the harvested power is given
E stand = VDC I dt = αVDC (u M − u 1 ) (5) by (21). Consequently in this case the maximal harvested
power yields (22).
α
V = u+A (6) In the case of a perfect switch (i.e. VD = VSW = φ = 0)
C0 the expression of the harvested power thus becomes (23) and
α α the maximal harvested power (24):
−VS = − uM + A ⇒ A = u M − VS (7)
C0 C0 VS = VDC + 2VD + VSW (17)
α C0  
VS = u 1 + A ⇒ u 1 = 2 VS − u M (8) 1+γ
C0 α (Psshi )class = 2 f 0 (1 + cos(φ))
1 − γ cos(φ)
E stand = 2VDC (αu M − C0 (VDC + 2VD )) (9) ×VDC (α cos(φ)u M − C0 (VDC + 2VD + VSW )) (18)
  
Pstand = 2 f 0 E stand = 4 f 0 VDC (αu M − C0 (VDC + 2VD )) (10) 1 + cos(φ) 1+γ
((Psshi )class )max = f 0 C0
∂ Pstand α 2 1 − γ cos(φ)
= 0 ⇒ (VDC )opt = u M − VD (11)  
∂ VDC 2C 0 α cos(φ)
× u M − 2VD − VSW (19)
 2 C0
α
(Pstand )max = f 0 C0 u M − 2VD . (12) VS = VDC + VD + VSW (20)
C0  
1+γ
(Psshi )new = 2 f 0 (1 + cos(φ))
1 − γ cos(φ)
3.2. Series SSHI
×VDC (α cos(φ)u M − C0 (VDC + VD + VSW )) (21)
In the case of series SSHI technique proposed in [20], the   
1 + cos(φ) 1+γ
energy transfer process occurs when the piezoelectric element ((Psshi )new )max = f 0 C0
2 1 − γ cos(φ)
is switched to the electrical circuit. Therefore, the energy  
α cos(φ)
harvested during a single switch is given as (13) from (3), with × u M − VD − VSW (22)
VM the magnitude of the piezoelectric voltage, φ the phase C0
 
delay between the actual occurrence of an extremum and the 1+γ
(Psshi )perfect = 4 f 0 VDC (α cos(φ)u M − C0 VDC )
corresponding switch time instant and Vm the value of the 1−γ
voltage after the extraction process (figure 4). As before, C0 is  
1+γ
the blocking capacitance of the piezoelectric element and VDC = Pclass (23)
1−γ
is the storage capacitor voltage. As the voltage inversion is  
  1 + γ α2 2
done relative to the voltage VS , then it is possible to express (Psshi )perfect max = f 0 u . (24)
the inversion considering this voltage, as well as VM , Vm , 1 − γ C0 M
φ and the inversion factor γ , yielding (14). As well, the
piezoelectric element is left in open-circuit condition between 3.3. Mechanical effect
energy extraction processes and considering the inversion time
Extracting energy from an electromechanical structure also
period very short compared to the vibration period leads to the
modifies its mechanical behaviour. Such an effect can be
expression of VM and Vm as a function of α , C0 , φ and u M
shown using a simple electromechanically coupled spring–
as (15). Thus from (14) and (15) it is possible to express the
mass system as proposed in [22], and leading to (25), where
energy extracted per switch as (16)
u is the flexural displacement, F is the driving force and V is
 the piezovoltage. M , C and K E are defined as the dynamic
E sshi = VDC I dt = C0 VDC (VM cos(φ) + Vm ) (13) mass, structural damping coefficient and short-circuit stiffness,
and α is given as the force factor:
(Vm + VS ) = γ (VM cos(φ) − VS ) (14)
α M ü + C u̇ + K E u = F − αV. (25)
VM − Vm = (1 + cos(φ)) u M (15)
C0 In the case of the standard technique, the harvesting
 
1+γ process makes the voltage no longer in phase with the
E sshi = (1 + cos(φ)) displacement, creating, from a mechanical point of view, a
1 − γ cos(φ)
friction effect that leads both to an attenuation of the vibrations,
× VDC (α cos(φ)u M − C0 VS ) . (16)
and therefore to a decrease of the actual displacement, and to
In the case of the classical SSHI implementation depicted a drift in the resonance frequency (this latter being included
in figure 3(a), the voltage gaps are introduced by the two within the range of short-circuit and open-circuit resonance
conducting diodes of the bridge rectifier, as well as the closed frequencies).
switch, giving (17), where VSW is the voltage gap introduced by Using the series SSHI generates a voltage waveform
the closed switch. Therefore the expression of the harvested that can be divided into two functions. The first function

4
Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008) 035030 M Lallart and D Guyomar

is proportional to the displacement, as in the open-circuit

state. The second one is a piecewise constant function h that
is generated by the non-linear processing of the SSHI. The
magnitude H of this function is obtained considering (26),
yielding the expression of h (27), with τ the switching time
delay (associated with φ ):

VM cos(φ) + Vm = (1 + cos(φ)) H (26)

  
1+γ α
h= u M − VS sgn (u̇(t − τ )) . (27)
1 − γ cos(φ) C0
Considering that the displacement remains purely sinu-
soidal, h can be approximated by its first harmonic, leading
to a function in phase with the displacement h u and a function
in phase with the velocity h v defined as (28), with ω the an-
gular frequency of vibration. Therefore, the effect of energy
harvesting using the SSHI technique leads both to a change in
the stiffness (and thus to a resonance frequency drift) due to
the contribution of h u , and to a damping effect (by a change in
the structural damping coefficient) produced by h v . One can
note that these changes are not linear as they depend on the
vibration magnitude:
  
1+γ α VS
hu = − sin(φ)u
1 − γ cos(φ) C0 uM Figure 5. Maximal harvested power as a function of the input force
   (28) and structural damping coefficient (electromechanical parameters are
1+γ α VS those of the experimental structure described in section 5).
hv = − cos(φ)u̇.
1 − γ cos(φ) C0 ω u M ω
Considering that the structure is oscillating at its modified
4. Self-powering issues
resonance angular frequency ωr (due to the mechanical
feedback) defined as (29) and that the force is in phase with the Although non-linear treatments can significantly increase the
speed (i.e. low mechanical losses), then the expression of the efficiency of energy harvesting, the control command required
displacement magnitude yields (30), leading to the expression to implement such treatments can be costly in terms of energy.
of the maximal output power (31) from (16): These energy requirements are often greater than the harvested

α2 1+γ α energy gain, thus seriously reducing the interest in such
KE + C0
+ 4
π 1−γ cos(φ) C0
− VS
uM
sin(φ) treatments.
ωr = (29)
M The enhancement proposed in this paper can be truly self-
1+γ powered by the use of the electronic breaker proposed in [23],
FM + α π4 1−γ cos(φ)
cos(φ)VS
and whose principles are given in figure 6. It consists in
uM = (30)
1+γ α2 comparing the actual piezoelectric voltage with its envelope.
Cωr + 4
π 1−γ cos(φ) C0 cos(φ)
  When the envelope is greater than the piezovoltage, then the
ωr 1+γ switch process is engaged. Such a circuit consumes very little
(Psshi ) = (1 + cos(φ)) VDC
π 1 − γ cos(φ) power (roughly 5% of the total electrostatic energy available on
⎛ 1+γ
⎞ the piezoelectric element). In the following experiments, such
FM + α π4 1−γ cos(φ)
cos(φ)VS
× ⎝α cos(φ) − C0 VS ⎠ . switches are used: one for positive switching (S1 ) and one for
1+γ α2 negative switching (S2 ).
Cωr + 4
π 1−γ cos(φ) C0
cos(φ)
The exact operation of this circuit is as follows. The
(31) envelope detection of the input signal is performed by R3 , D3
A comparison between the two techniques taking into and C . While this envelope is less than the input voltage, the
account the mechanical feedback is depicted in figure 5, transistor T2 is blocked, and therefore T1 is as well. When
considering the electromechanical structure presented in the difference between the input signal and the voltage of the
section 5. Although the differences in terms of output power capacitor C is greater than the threshold voltage of T2 , the
are negligible for high force magnitude or low structural transistor starts conducting. Therefore D3 is blocked and the
damping coefficient (corresponding to a high displacement capacitor C discharges through D2 , T2 , R1 and T1 . Thus the
magnitude and therefore to a high output voltage), this figure two transistors conduct, initiating the switching process. The
clearly shows the effectiveness of the proposed architecture harvesting process is interrupted by D1 which stops conducting
over the classical implementation of the SSHI for low values when the current is null (corresponding to the end of the
of the force and high damping coefficients. inversion process). At the end of the harvesting process, the

5
Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008) 035030
Figure 6. Unipolar electronic switch on maxima: (a) block diagram; (b) implementation (from [23]).
Table 1. Parameter identification for experimental measurements.
Parameter Value
Resonance frequency, f 0 (Hz) 106.1
Blocking capacitance, C 0 (nF) 30
Force factor, α (N V−1 ) 1.8 × 10−4
Switching delay, φ (rad) 0.45
Inversion factor, γ 0.72
Diode voltage gap, VD (V) 0.5
Self-powered switch voltage gap, VSW (V) 1.2
charges on the capacitor C are null (total discharge). R1 and
R2 ensure that the emitter–base voltages of T1 and T2 do not
interfere with the envelope detector and capacitor C , and D2
ensures the proper discharge of C .
5. Experimental results
This section aims at validating the theoretical predictions
presented in section 3. It is important to note that, although
the structure used in this section is not a MEMS structure, it
is excited with a small driving force that makes the voltage
gaps of the non-linear components non-negligible. As well,
these components are off-the-shelf components, and thus not
optimized for energy harvesting with low voltage output.
5.1. Experimental set-up
The experimental set-up consists of a 40 mm long cantilever
steel beam clamped at one end to a rigid base and bonded by
a piezoelectric insert on its surface (figure 7(a)). The beam
is excited using an electromagnet, and an inductive proximity
sensor is used for measuring the displacement magnitude at
the free end of the beam. The electronic switch is depicted
in figure 7(b), as well as the inductance used for energy
harvesting using the series SSHI technique. The beam is
set vibrating on its first flexural mode, corresponding to the
resonance frequency f 0 . Parameter identification is given in
table 1. The storage capacitance value is set to 1 μF and load
resistor RL is made to vary in order to change the value of the
voltage VDC and thus the harvested power. In the following it
will be considered that the mechanical feedback of the energy
harvesting process is negligible, the structure being weakly
coupled and having relatively high internal losses.
6
M Lallart and D Guyomar
Figure 7. Experimental set-up: (a) instrumented cantilever beam;
(b) unipolar electronic breaker and inductor.
5.2. Experimental results and discussion
The first measurements consist in determining the harvested
power for a constant displacement of 1 mm of the free end
of the beam. Results are depicted in figure 8 and show good
agreement with theoretical predictions. In particular, due to
different voltage gaps for each technique, the optimal rectified
voltage value VDC is different from one technique to another.
Also, while the classical implementation of the series SSHI
shows a gain of 2 in terms of maximal power compared to
the standard energy harvesting technique, the circuit proposed
in this paper allows a gain of 2.6 (30% more) in such a
configuration, thus harvesting more energy by reducing voltage
gaps in the harvesting circuit.
This is much truer for lower vibration magnitudes.
Figure 9 shows the evolution of the maximal harvested power
as a function of the free end displacement magnitude. As
previously, these results show very good agreement with
theoretical predictions. Performances of the new series
SSHI circuit over the classical implementation are clearly
shown, especially for low vibration magnitudes. In particular,
whereas the classical circuit for the series SSHI does not
work for a displacement magnitude less than 500 μm, the
new implementation allows harvesting energy as soon as the
displacement magnitude reaches 350 μm. As well, the diode
voltage gap removal leads to an increase of the harvested power
that is roughly proportional to the displacement magnitude,
and approximately equals in this case 50 μW for a 1 mm
free end displacement magnitude, which is not negligible for
microgenerators with low power output.
The increase of the SSHI effectiveness can also be shown
considering experimental waveforms of the piezovoltage, as
depicted in figure 10. The piezovoltage increase allowed by
Smart Mater. Struct. 17 (2008) 035030
Figure 8. Experimental results versus theoretical prediction for 1 mm free end displacement.
Figure 9. Experimental results versus theoretical prediction of the maximal power as a function of the displacement magnitude.
Figure 10. Experimental waveforms for 500 μm free end
displacement and 100 k load.
the reduction of the switching losses therefore allows a more
efficient inversion and thus a greater amount of harvested
energy (the available electrostatic energy on the piezoelement
at the switching time instant is 50% greater with the proposed
architecture).
6. Conclusion
The present paper proposes a new self-powered architecture
for optimized energy harvesting using piezoelectric elements
with a low voltage output, as well as a theoretical development
of harvested power taking into account non-linear effects
introduced by discrete components.
Taking advantage of the outstanding performance offered
by the non-linear technique called series SSHI proposed
by Tailor et al in [20], a new circuit is proposed for
microgenerators with low voltage output. The principles of
7
M Lallart and D Guyomar
this new architecture rely on limiting voltage gaps introduced
by non-linear components, such as diodes, by separating
minimum and maximum detectors that are classically put
together for the classical implementation of the series SSHI.
This circuit is also fully self-powered, requiring no external
power supply for the piezoelectric voltage treatment.
A theoretical development is proposed in order to identify
significant parameters in the optimization of the circuit, and
theoretical predictions are validated through experimental
measurements performed on a cantilever beam. It is shown
that the proposed circuit can operate below the minimum
voltage of the classical series SSHI implementation, and allows
a significant gain in terms of harvested power compared to
standard and classical SSHI implementations. For example,
under experiment conditions, the proposed circuit leads to a
gain of 160% compared to the standard energy harvesting
technique, while the classical implementation of the SSHI
leads to an increase of only 100%.
Thus the new architecture proposed in this paper provides
a new step in the integration of miniature microgenerators,
such as MEMS generators.
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