Compact electret energy harvester with high power output

Abstract

Compact electret energy harvesters, based on a design recently introduced, are presented. Using electret surface potentials in the 400 V regime and a seismic mass of 10 g, it was possible to generate output power up to 0.6 mW at 36 Hz for an input acceleration of 1 g. Following the presentation of an analytical model allowing for the calculation of the power generated in a load resistance at the resonance frequency of the harvesters, experimental results are shown and compared to theoretical predictions. Finally, the performance of the electret harvesters is assessed using a figure of merit.