Implementation of Multi-Step Bias-Flip Rectifier for Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

The full-wave rectifier is an essential step for extracting energy from a piezoelectric source. Yet, the inherent capacitance of the piezoelement significantly is considered a limitation of the efficiency of extraction. To address this issue, the bias-flip rectifier can be used. However, this rectifier needs large inductor and precise tuning. The large inductor increases the overall volume of the system which is inefficient. This paper address the problems with the traditional bias-flip rectifier by introducing an enhanced multi-step bias-flip rectifier to achieve a high voltage-flip efficiency using a much smaller inductor. Moreover, the implemented multi-step bias-flip rectifier the timing requirements on testing.