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US 12,381,418 B2Granted
Device for ambient thermal and vibration energy harvesting
AssigneeBoard of Trustees of the University of Arkansas
InventorPaul Thibado
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated circuit on a chip may include a plurality of capacitors that are connected in series and generate an AC noise signal. A selected bandwidth of the AC noise signal transmits through the series of capacitors as a first AC power signal. Respective rectifiers are positioned for receiving a positive cycle of the first AC power signal and a negative cycle of the first AC power signal. Output terminals are connected to the respective rectifiers and configured for connection to an off chip circuit. The capacitors may be fixed or variable gap capacitors.
Claims8
An energy harvesting system, comprising:
- a DC voltage source connected to a source of noise energy comprising a series of capacitors that generates an AC noise signal;
- a selected bandwidth of the AC noise signal transmitting through the series of capacitors as a first AC power signal;
- respective diodes rectifying the first power signal to charge a positive cycle storage capacitor and a negative cycle storage capacitor with the first AC power signal,
- wherein the first AC power signal is rectified through a reverse biased diode during a negative cycle of the first AC power signal to produce an output power signal transmitted to the negative cycle storage capacitor;
- wherein the first AC power signal is rectified through a forward biased diode during a positive cycle of the first AC power signal to produce a respective output power signal transmitted to the positive cycle storage capacitor, and
- wherein the diodes are paired as a sub-unit and the sub-unit is connected to a positive cycle metal trace connection and a negative cycle metal trace connection, and the sub-units are repeated with respective connections to the positive cycle metal trace connection and the negative cycle metal trace connection.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.