Electrostatic energy harvesting device with broad bandwidth

This paper presents the design and testing of a wideband electrostatic energy harvester. The vibration amplitudes of two cantilever-mass structures produce strongly coupling when two cantilevers is very close caused by the external acceleration. Therefore, the output power up to 22-35 μW can be achieved at acceleration value of 4.5 m/s2 in an external vibration frequency range from 42 Hz to 50 Hz, across a load resistor of 300 MΩ. The results of experimental measurement and a theoretical model using Simulink simulation indicate that our energy harvesting device can realize broaden band gap, hence significantly improves the vibration-to-electricity energy conversion efficiency.