Novel Power Conditioning Circuits for Piezoelectric Micro Power Generators

Abstract

Advanced low power devices promote the development of micro power generators "MPGs" to replace the batteries to power them. Due to the trend in decreasing integrated circuit "IC" supply voltages, power supply designers are facing more and more serious challenges. The objective of this research is to design a power conditioning circuit "PCC" for use in conjunction with low voltage microelectromechanical systems "MEMS"-based Palouse Piezoelectric Power "P3" micro heat engine power generation systems. The PCC enables maximum power extraction from a piezoelectric MPG. The proposed PCC includes a rectifier stage and a regulator stage. The rectifier stage is based on the synchronous rectification technique. The dc-dc regulator is a charge pump-based step-down converter. Interleaved discharge "ID" is proposed to reduce the output voltage ripple significantly, without sacrificing the converter efficiency. The proposed step-down charge pump is analyzed with state-space averaging. In order to facilitate the PSpice simulation of the lead zirconate titanate "PZT" membrane, a simplified PZT model was developed. Both the rectifier and the charge pump are simulated with PSpice. Simulations show that the interleaved discharge method takes full advantage of the step-down charge pump structure, and provides flexibilities to the design of step-down charge pumps. The designed 200mW 5V/1.2V charge pump has an efficiency of 92.2%, with reduced output ripple. Proof-of-concept demonstration of the proposed PCC includes a 4-stage completely passive charge pump driving an analog wristwatch, proving proper operation of the entire P3 micro power system. A maximum output power of 18.8mW has been extracted from a single piezoelectric MPG, with 92% efficiency in the rectifier stage.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 31, 2003
Accession Number
ADA471486

Entities

People

  • Annette Von Jouranne

Organizations

  • Oregon State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computers
  • Electric Power
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Electronics Industry
  • Electronics Laboratories
  • Energy
  • Energy Harvesting
  • Energy Transfer
  • Engineering
  • Microelectromechanical Systems
  • Power Converters
  • Power Electronics
  • Power Supplies
  • Semiconductors
  • Switched Mode Power Supplies
  • Transducers
  • Waveform Generators

Fields of Study

  • Engineering
  • Physics

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster