Design Considerations for Harvesting Vibration Energy at MEMS Scale: Review

Abstract

Vibration based energy harvesting has wide potential applications in areas such as wireless sensors networks and ultra low power devices. While there have been various technologies through which vibration energy has been harvested, there is a considerable need to improve the power density of such devices. Recently, efforts have been made in developing MEMS scale devices as they would have increased power density and also provide ease of integration with wireless sensors and low power electronic devices. The aim of this paper is to present the generic and specific design considerations for vibration energy harvesting at the MEMS scale for electrostatic, electromagnetic and piezoelectric techniques. The effect of external load such as load resistance employed for peak power output on the total damping in the system is discussed. The typical MEMS scale vibrating structures such as cantilever beam, fixed-fixed beam and membrane are also presented.