NON-STATIONARY MULTI-FREQUENCY VIBRATION ENERGY HARVESTING WITH TUNABLE ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE

摘要

The present application relates to energy harvesting. More particularly, the present application relates to harvesting energy from non-stationary, multi-frequency mechanical vibrations using a tunable electrical circuit. In an embodiment, an apparatus for converting vibrational energy to electrical energy is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: a vibrational energy harvester having a transducer for generating time-varying electrical signals in response to environmental vibration; at least one power storage device; a switching network operably coupled between the transducer of the vibrational energy harvester and the at least one power storage device, wherein the switching network includes a plurality of switching elements, each defining a switchable current path that is controlled by a control signal supplied to the respective switching element; and electronics configured to generate the control signals for supply to the switching elements of the switching network, the electronics configured to control the switching elements to synthesize a reactive load that corresponds to characteristics of the energy harvester.