High efficiency power converter for energy harvesting devices
First Claim
1. An energy harvesting system for delivering power to a load, comprising:
- an energy harvesting device that converts mechanical excitation energy into unregulated AC electrical energy in the form of an AC signal;
a rectifier that rectifies the AC signal;
a DC link capacitor that integrates and stores energy from said rectified AC signal; and
control electronics that alternately transfers regulated power to the load and recharges the capacitor in accordance with a hysteresis in the capacitor energy.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A high-efficiency power converter converts the unregulated AC electrical energy generated by an energy harvesting device to regulated quasi-continuous DC or AC power delivered to a load. A DC link capacitor stores energy from the AC input. Control electronics alternately transfers regulated power to the load and recharges the capacitor in accordance with a hysteresis window in the capacitor energy. The control electronics terminates transfer of regulated power to the load and initiates recharging of the capacitor when the capacitor voltage, hence energy falls below a lower threshold and terminates capacitor charging and initiates power transfer when the capacitor voltage, hence energy exceeds an upper threshold.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. An energy harvesting system for delivering power to a load, comprising:
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an energy harvesting device that converts mechanical excitation energy into unregulated AC electrical energy in the form of an AC signal;
a rectifier that rectifies the AC signal;
a DC link capacitor that integrates and stores energy from said rectified AC signal; and
control electronics that alternately transfers regulated power to the load and recharges the capacitor in accordance with a hysteresis in the capacitor energy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A power converter, comprising:
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a DC link capacitor;
a rectifier for rectifying an AC signal and charging the DC link capacitor to generate an unregulated DC voltage;
a regulator that converts the unregulated DC voltage into a regulated electrical signal; and
a hysteretic comparator that turns the regulator on when the unregulated DC voltage exceeds an upper threshold and off when the unregulated DC voltage falls below a lower threshold. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. An energy harvesting system for delivering power to a load, comprising:
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an energy harvesting device that converts mechanical excitation energy into an unregulated AC signal;
a DC link capacitor;
a rectifier that rectifies the unregulated AC signal and charges the DC link capacitor to generate an unregulated DC voltage;
a regulator that converts the unregulated DC voltage into a regulated electrical signal that is supplied to the load; and
a hysteretic comparator that turns the regulator on when the unregulated DC voltage exceeds an upper threshold and off when the unregulated DC voltage falls below a lower threshold. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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22. A method of converting unregulated AC electrical energy into regulated power, comprising:
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storing energy from an unregulated AC source in a DC link capacitor, and alternately transferring regulated power to a load and recharging the capacitor in accordance with a hysteresis in the capacitor energy. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification