Nonlinear Oscillation for a Millimeter-Sized Vibrational Energy Harvester with Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene Electret

Special Section on Advanced Information and Communication Technologies and Services in Conjunction with Main Topics of APCC2015

Kazuyoshi ONO, Norio SATO, Georgia Institute of Technology">Alexander YU, Yujiro TANAKA, Tomomi SAKATA, NTT Device Innovation Center, NTT Corporation">Yoshito JIN, Yasuhiro SATO, Hiroshi KOIZUMI

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Keywords: energy harvest, electret, nonlinear, vibration, MEMS, ETFE, Internet of Things

JOURNAL RESTRICTED ACCESS

2016 Volume E99.B Issue 8 Pages 1677-1686

DOI https://doi.org/10.1587/transcom.2015CCP0011

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Abstract

A demonstration of power enhancement by nonlinear oscillation in a millimeter-sized electrostatic vibrational energy harvester for the future Internet of Things is presented. To enable nonlinearity in microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices, we selected a gold spring as a component of the MEMS structure for its lower Young's modulus than conventional materials, a ductile characteristic, and an electrical conductivity. The mechanical characteristics of the fabricated MEMS device related to the nonlinear phenomenon were examined. The charging characteristics of an ethylene tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE) electret film for electrostatic induction were also evaluated. Nonlinear oscillation for the millimeter-sized energy harvester with the ETFE electret was confirmed experimentally by applying external vibration. The oscillation resulted in a bandwidth two times broader than that by linear oscillation. The normalized harvester effectiveness of the nonlinear oscillation was 5.1 times higher than that of the linear one.

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