Optimization of piezoelectric energy harvesting systems by using a MPPT method

This paper proposes an optimization of a piezoelectric energy harvesting system by using a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method. A full-bridge rectifier is implemented with a MPPT unit to obtain maximum extracted power by controlling a DC-DC converter following the rectifier. By using the MPPT unit, the extracted power efficiency of the rectifier is always larger than 80% regardless of the load condition. Furthermore, another DC-DC converter is applied to regulate the output voltage to the desired level. The simulation results show that the system can extract a maximum of 51 uW power with 64% total efficiency.