Project µNRJ (2006-2008)

"Vibration energy harvesting using an electret-free electrostatic silicon-based transducer"

Grant : ANR JCJC 2005 n°54551

Objectives

Fabrication of a resonant batch-processed, silicon-based and electret-free MEMS Vibration Energy Harvester (VEH).

This work is now continuing through the SESAM project which adress a multi-source and  multi-load system, in collaboration with the CEA-LETI and the TIMA-lab.


For general informatoions on applications of energy harvesting, read the short paper in  Micronews (2008/10): "MEMS energy harvesting devices, great technology:For which markets?"

Results

We have fabricated a 11x6.5 mm² VEH in a silicon/glass technology with in-plane motion. Using a charge-pump like conditioning circuit, the device converts, from the mechanical to the electrical domain, 60 nW on a 60 MOhms load at 250 Hz and for an external vibration acceleration of 0.25 g. If implemented in a triangular constant-charge scheme, the maximum harvested power would be around 500 nW.

Related publications

Journals

• "A batch-fabricated and electret-free silicon electrostatic vibration energy harvester", P. Basset, D. Galayko, A. Mahmood Paracha, F. Marty, A. Dudka and T. Bourouina, J. Micromech. Microeng., 19 (2009) 115025 (12pp)

• “A silicon MEMS DC/DC converter for autonomous vibration-to-electrical energy scavenger”,  A. Mahmood Paracha, P. Basset, D. Galayko, F. Marty, and T. Bourouina,  IEEE Electronic Device Letters,, Vol. 30,  no 5,  pp. 481-483, 2009

PhD dissertation

• "Design and fabrication of a micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) for the energy harvesting of ambient vibrations by electrostatic means ", A. Mahmood Paracha, PhD dissertation, dec 2009

Conferences

• "MEMS DC/DC converter for 1D and 2D vibration-to-electricity power conversion", A. Mahmood Paracha, P. Basset, D. Galayko, Adrei Dudka, F. Marty and T. Bourouina, Proceeding of the 15th int. Conf. on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (Transducers’09), 2009

•  "A bidirectional vibration powered electric energy generator based on an electrostatic transduction using an In-Plane Overlap Plate (IPOP) mechanism", A. Mahmood Paracha, P. Basset, D. Galayko, F. Marty, T. Bourouina, Proceeding of the 11th symposium on Design, Test, Integration and Packaging  Conference (DTIP’09), Rome, Italy, 2009

• "Mechanical/electrical power-aware impedance matching for design of capacitive vibration energy harvesters", D. Galayko and P. Basset, Proceeding of the 8th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS’08), Sendai, Japan, 2008

• "Modelling techniques for capacitive harvesters of vibration energy", D. Galayko, K. Caluwaerts and P. Basset, Proceeding of the 8th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS’08), Sendai, Japan, 2008

• "Characterization of a DC/DC converter using an in-plane bulk-silicon capacitive transducer for vibration-to-electricity power conversion", A. Mahmood Paracha, P. Basset, D. Galayko, F. Marty, A. Dutka  and T. Bourouina, Proceeding of the 8th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS’08), Sendai, Japan, 2008

• "SystemC-AMS Heterogeneous Modeling of a Capacitive Harvester of Vibration Energy", K. Caluwaerts, D. Galayko and P. Basset, Proceeding of the 2008 IEEE International Behavioral Modeling and Simulation Conference (BMAS’08), San José, USA, 2008

• "Optimization and AMS modeling for design of an electrostatic vibration energy harverster's conditioning circuit with an auto-adaptative process to the external vibration changes", D. Galayko, P. Basset and A. Mahmood Paracha, Proceeding of the 10th symposium on Design, Test, Integration and Packaging  Conference (DTIP’08), Nice, France, 2008

• "Optimization and AMS modeling of capacitive vibration harvester", D. Galayko, R. Pizarro, P. Basset, A. Mahmood Paracha and G. Amendola, Proceeding of the 7th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS’07), pp. 109-112, Freiburg, Germany, 2007

• "AMS modeling of controlled switch for design optimization of capacitive vibration energy harvester", D. Galayko, R. Pizarro, P. Basset, A. Mahmood. Paracha and G. Amendola, Proceeding of the 2007 IEEE International Behavioral Modeling and Simulation Conference (BMAS’07), pp. 115-120, San José, USA, 2007

• "A high power density electrostatic vibration-to-electric energy converter based on an in-plane overlap plate (IPOP) mechanism", A. Mahmood Parracha, P. Basset, F. Marty, A. Vaisman Chasin, P. Poulichet and T. Bourouina, Proceeding of the 9th symposium on Design, Test, Integration and Packaging  Conference (DTIP’07), Stresa, Italy, 2007 

• "A bulk silicon-based electrostatic vibration-to-electricity energy converter using In-Plane-Overlap-Plate (IPOP) mechanism", A. M. Paracha, P. Basset, P. C. L. Lim, F. Marty and T. Bourouina, Proceeding of the 6th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS’06), Berkeley, USA, 2006

• "Desin of a novel electrostatic MEMS-based vibration-to-electric energy converter based on parallel plates with in plane mechaism", P. Lim, P. Basset, A. Mahmood, F. Marty, P. Poulichet and T. Bourouina, Proceeding of the Asia Pacific Conference on Transducers and Micro-Nano Technology (APCOT’06), Singapour, 2006