An integrated approach to energy harvester modeling and performance optimization

This paper proposes an integrated approach to energy harvester (EH) modeling and performance optimization where the complete mixed physical-domain EH (micro generator, voltage booster, storage element and load) can be modeled and optimized. We show that electrical equivalent models of the micro generator are inadequate for accurate prediction of the voltage booster´s performance. Through the use of hardware description language (HDL) we demonstrate that modeling the micro generator with analytical equations in the mechanical and magnetic domains provide an accurate model which has been validated in practice. Another key feature of the integrated approach is that it facilitates the incorporation of performance enhanced optimization, which as will be demonstrated is necessary due to the mechanical-electrical interactions of an EH. A case study of a state-of-the-art vibration-based electromagnetic EH has been presented. We show that performance optimization can increase the energy harvesting rate by about 40%.