Energy harvesting for IoT sensors utilizing MEMS technology

The growing need for alternative sources to power sensors and portable devices has led to many power-scavenging solutions from ambient energy sources. As the technology scales down and the supply voltage drops, the complexity of power scavenging circuits increases. This paper presents a new transducer circuit utilizing MEMS technology together with a super-diode to convert ambient vibration energy to usable electrical energy efficiently. An integrated MEMS actuator containing a switch is used to eliminate the loss of efficiency due to the threshold voltage of diodes commonly used to implement electrostatic transducers. A super-diode has also been used to eliminate the need for synchronization while increasing the overall efficiency. Simulation results using Cadence design tools indicate an increased efficiency by more than 27% compared to the conventional electrostatic transducer.