The Integrated Self Priming Circuit: An Autonomous Electrostatic Energy Harvester With Voltage Boosting

This article presents a method for modifying an electrostatic harvester (EH) to allow autonomous management of its charge. The method involves segmenting a naturally antagonistic (out-of-phase) EH and connecting it with diodes to form an integrated self priming circuit (I-SPC). A model for the I-SPC is presented and shown that an exponential increase in voltage on the EH will occur over 10's of harvesting cycles. Furthermore, the model finds that increasing the segmentation of the EH allows harvesting at lower capacitance change ratios. The model is validated through simulation and experiment. The experiment is performed using a dielectric elastomer EH which consists of eight segments. During experimentation, it is confirmed that an I-SPC charged to 5 V is capable of reaching a voltage of approximately 2600 V after 40 capacitance change cycles. This fast voltage gain highlights the possibilities of self-managed EHs which harvest renewable kinetic energy autonomously to power wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The lack of maintenance associated with these systems will allow cheap WSN powered by renewable energy sources to be implemented in industrial applications.