A Self-Powered and Area Efficient SSHI Rectifier for Piezoelectric Harvesters

Abstract

This article presents an area efficient fully autonomous piezoelectric energy harvesting system to scavenge energy from periodic vibrations. Extraction rectifier utilized in the system is based on synchronized switch harvesting on inductor (SSHI) technique which enables system to outperform standard passive rectifiers. Compared to conventional SSHI circuits, enhanced SSHI (E-SSHI) system proposed in this paper uses a single low-profile external inductor in the range of µH’s to reduce overall system cost and volume, hence broadening application areas of such harvesting systems. Furthermore, E-SSHI does not include any negative voltage converter circuit and therefore, it offers area efficient AC/DC rectification. Detection of optimal voltage flipping times in E-SSHI technique is conducted autonomously without any external calibration. Energy transfer circuit provides control over how much energy is delivered from E-SSHI output to electronic load. The proposed system is fabricated in 180 nm CMOS process with 0.28 mm2 active area. It is tested using a commercial piezoelectric transducer MIDE V22BL with periodic excitation. Measured results reveal that E-SSHI circuit is capable of extracting up to 5.23 and 4.02 times more power compared with an ideal full-bridge rectifier at 0.87 V and 2.6 V piezoelectric open circuit voltage amplitudes (VOC,P), respectively. A maximum voltage flipping efficiency of 93% is observed at VOC,P = 3.6 V, owing to minimized losses on charge flipping path. Measured results are compared with state-of-the-art interface circuits. Comparison shows that E-SSHI design offers a huge step towards miniaturized harvesting systems thanks to its low-profile and fully autonomous design.