Energy harvesting — from devices to systems

Energy harvesting micro-generators provide alternative sources of energy for many technical and personal applications. Since the power delivered by such miniaturized devices is limited they need to be optimized and adapted to the application. The associated electronics not only has to operate at very low voltages and use little power it also needs to be adaptive to the fluctuating harvesting conditions. A joint development and optimization of transducer and electronics is essential for improved efficiency.