Low energy dissipation electric circuit for energy harvesting

Abstract

A low energy dissipation circuit is proposed to achieve more effective energy harvesting, called 'synchronized switch harvesting on inductor (SSHI)'. The proposed circuit only has two diodes, while the original SSHI circuit has four diodes comprising a diode bridge. It thus reduces the voltage drop during the energy-harvesting process, because the actual diodes have forward voltage regarded as equivalent electrical resistance or energy dissipation. Energy-harvesting experiments demonstrated that the proposed circuit increases the harvested energy output to as much as 120% of that for the original SSHI circuit. We confirmed that the storage voltage in the steady state is independent of the storage capacitance through extensive energy-harvesting experiments, and that the settling time of the storage voltage is proportional to the storage capacitance but independent of the harvesting circuit. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.