TY - GEN
T1 - An Energy Harvester concept for electrostatic conversion manufactured in MEMS surface micromachining technology
AU - Iannacci, Jacopo
AU - Sordo, Guido
AU - Gottardi, Massimo
AU - Kuenzig, Thomas
AU - Schrag, Gabriele
AU - Wachutka, Gerhard
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - In this work we present the concept of a MEMS-based Energy Harvester (EH) for the conversion of vibration into electrical energy. The employed electrostatic conversion mechanism of the device is sensitive both to vertical (out-of-plane) and horizontal (in-plane) displacements, thanks to the presence of buried planar and interdigitated fixed electrodes, respectively. The proposed EH is inexpensively manufactured in the MEMS/RF-MEMS surface micromachining process available at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) in Italy, and, thereby, does not require any specific technology modification to be realized. Modeling of the EH concept (Finite Element Method based and analytical) is reported and discussed, and validated against preliminary experimental measurements. The structure exhibits resonant frequencies in the range up to 10-12 kHz, it being compatible with vibration sources typically available in the surrounding environment, like busy street, car engine, industrial and domestic appliance, and so on. Preliminary estimates of the power conversion capability seem to address rather low levels (in the range of pW), despite, on the other hand, the EH design as well as the fabrication process admit significant margins of performance improvement.
AB - In this work we present the concept of a MEMS-based Energy Harvester (EH) for the conversion of vibration into electrical energy. The employed electrostatic conversion mechanism of the device is sensitive both to vertical (out-of-plane) and horizontal (in-plane) displacements, thanks to the presence of buried planar and interdigitated fixed electrodes, respectively. The proposed EH is inexpensively manufactured in the MEMS/RF-MEMS surface micromachining process available at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) in Italy, and, thereby, does not require any specific technology modification to be realized. Modeling of the EH concept (Finite Element Method based and analytical) is reported and discussed, and validated against preliminary experimental measurements. The structure exhibits resonant frequencies in the range up to 10-12 kHz, it being compatible with vibration sources typically available in the surrounding environment, like busy street, car engine, industrial and domestic appliance, and so on. Preliminary estimates of the power conversion capability seem to address rather low levels (in the range of pW), despite, on the other hand, the EH design as well as the fabrication process admit significant margins of performance improvement.
KW - MEMS
KW - electrostatic conversion
KW - energy harvesting
KW - environmental vibrations
KW - experimental data
KW - simulations
KW - surface micromachining
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84892152352&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISCDG.2013.6656310
DO - 10.1109/ISCDG.2013.6656310
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84892152352
SN - 9781479912506
T3 - 2013 IEEE International Semiconductor Conference Dresden - Grenoble: Technology, Design, Packaging, Simulation and Test, ISCDG 2013
BT - 2013 IEEE International Semiconductor Conference Dresden - Grenoble
T2 - 2013 IEEE International Semiconductor Conference Dresden - Grenoble: Technology, Design, Packaging, Simulation and Test, ISCDG 2013
Y2 - 26 September 2013 through 27 September 2013
ER -