Low-Frequency MEMS Electrostatic Vibration Energy Harvester With Corona-Charged Vertical Electrets and Nonlinear Stoppers

International audienceThis paper reports for the first time a MEMS electrostatic vibration energy harvester (e-VEH) with corona-charged vertical electrets on its electrodes. The bandwidth of the 1-cm2 device is extended in low and high frequencies by nonlinear elastic stoppers. With a bias voltage of 46 V (electret@21 V + DC external source@25 V) between the electrodes, the RMS power of the device reaches 0.89 μW at 33 Hz and 6.6 μW at 428 Hz. The -3dB frequency band including the hysteresis is 223~432 Hz, the one excluding the hysteresis 88~166 Hz. We also demonstrate the charging of a 47 μF capacitor used for powering a wireless and autonomous temperature sensor node with a data transmission beyond 10 m at 868 MHz