A rectifier for piezoelectric energy harvesting system with series Synchronized Switch Harvesting Inductor

In this paper, a rectifier with series Synchronized Switch Harvesting Inductor (Series SSHI) is proposed for piezoelectric (PE) energy harvesting system. The serial inductor helps to flip the voltage across the internal capacitor of the PE transducer instead of wasting the capacitor voltage by discharge. Active diodes are used for the switches to further improve the extraction efficiency. From measurements, the proposed rectifier shows a power extraction efficiency of 3.3 times that of the active full bridge (FB) rectifier, and more than 90% of the power conversion efficiency.