Circuits for harvesting energy from piezoelectric devices
US8253307B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 11, 2009 |
| Grant date | Aug 28, 2012 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 22, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH02N2/181
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Circuits (20, 220, 320, 420) are provided for applying electrical charge collected from a piezoelectric device (22) to a charge storage device (24, 224, 424). The circuits comprise a peak detector (32, 232) and a switch(es) (34, 134, 234, 434) which is/are operated to initiate transfer of the electrical charge from the piezoelectric device to the charge storage device upon detection by the peak detector (32, 232) of a peak voltage across the piezoelectric device (22). In an example embodiment, the peak detector (32, 232) comprises a peak-detection capacitance (C4); a gain element (42, 242); and a non-linear PN junction circuit (40). The circuits can also comprise charge multiplier circuit (300) configured to continue application of the electrical charge to the charge storage device (224) after the switch (262) has been turned off and/or after a point in time when magnitude of the voltage across the charge storage device (224) equals the magnitude of the voltage across the piezoelectric device (22).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.