Ideal Rectifier Bridge Converting the Harvested Energy of Vibrations Into Electric Energy to Power an MR Damper

Abstract

The newly developed ideal rectifier bridge equipped with four N-type MOSFETs and two rail-to-rail operational amplifiers is a part of a typical energy harvesting conditioning circuit responsible for the rectification stage in the system of converting the energy harvested from vibrations into electrical energy to power the MR damper. The only energy loss in the bridge is caused by the voltage loss in transistors’ channels. The first sections of the work summarises the structural design of the bridge, the simulation procedure under the RL load and by sine voltage inputs with predetermined frequency and amplitude range, and benchmarks the results against those obtained for the conventional bridge based on Schottky diodes. In the second section, the PCB prototype of the bridge is analysed, and measurement data are compiled. The third section reports on the laboratory testing of the developed bridge converting the harvested energy in an MR damper-based vibration reduction system.

Advanced Prototype of an Electrical Control Unit for an MR Damper Powered by Energy Harvested from Vibrations

“…The simulations were carried out in the LTspice environment [26]. It was assumed that the power consumption and efficiency of the RB would not be analyzed, as this issue was described in detail in [21]. In addition, the current consumption by measuring circuits (resistive dividers and measuring amplifiers) and the scattering of parameters of electronic components resulting from the tolerance of their performance were not taken into account.…”

“…It should be noted that the present work does not concern the optimization of the harvester. Assumptions for the ECU project were determined on the basis of tests carried out for an H-bridge Graetz rectifier developed by the authors with N-type MOSFETs [21] and the results of experimental tests of a VRS [22]. The results of these studies showed that at kinematic excitation frequencies of the system greater than √ 2 times its resonance frequency, the amplitude of vibrations of a sprung mass increases, which is an undesirable phenomenon.…”

Experimental Investigation of a Uniaxial Dielectric Elastomer Generator

“…The most common harvester systems are based on piezoelectricity [1,2] or electromagnetics [3,4]. Another group are dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs), which utilise changing capacitance to convert mechanical energy into electric energy.…”