Circuit and method to improve energy harvesting efficiency in piezoelectric harvesters
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An energy harvester circuit comprising:
- a harvesting module for extracting energy from an ambient source;
a bias flip module for managing the manner in which voltage across said harvesting module transitions when input current to said harvesting module changes direction so as to allow a majority of the charge available from the harvesting module to be extracted; and
a voltage transitioning module that is shared amongst one or more DC-DC converters for efficient energy management, said voltage transitioning module comprises an inductor mechanism being shared amongst said main DC-DC converter and said one or more secondary DC-DC converters.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An energy harvester circuit is provided. The energy harvester circuit includes a harvesting module for extracting energy from an ambient source. A bias flip module manages the manner in which voltage across the harvesting module transitions when input current from the harvesting module changes direction so as to allow a majority of the charge available from the harvesting module to be extracted. A voltage transitioning module is shared amongst one or more DC-DC converters for efficient energy management.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. An energy harvester circuit comprising:
-
a harvesting module for extracting energy from an ambient source; a bias flip module for managing the manner in which voltage across said harvesting module transitions when input current to said harvesting module changes direction so as to allow a majority of the charge available from the harvesting module to be extracted; and a voltage transitioning module that is shared amongst one or more DC-DC converters for efficient energy management, said voltage transitioning module comprises an inductor mechanism being shared amongst said main DC-DC converter and said one or more secondary DC-DC converters. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method of performing energy harvesting comprising:
-
providing a harvesting module for extracting energy from an ambient source; implementing a bias flip module for managing the manner in which voltage across said harvesting module transitions when input current to said harvesting module changes direction so as to allow a majority of the charge available from the harvesting module to be extracted; and implementing a voltage transitioning module that is shared amongst one or more DC-DC converters for efficient energy management, said voltage transitioning module comprises an inductor mechanism being shared amongst said main DC-DC converter and said one or more secondary DC-DC converters. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
Specification