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Thesis
Leveraging Active Diode Rectification to Improve Piezo Energy Harvesting
University of West Florida Libraries
Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida
2025
Abstract
Piezoelectric materials are used in many applications most often as actuators or sensors. However, they can also operate as a generator. When a mechanical force is enacted on a piezo material it is converted into electrical energy. This is typically characterized as a high voltage and low current signal. The power produced by piezo material is not large enough for it to be considered a significant source of renewable energy, but it could be used to power small low-power devices. To get the most out of the piezo materials, efficient rectifier designs that keep minimizing voltage drops and impedance matching at the forefront are needed. A rectifier’s efficiency is measured by the ratio of output power to input power. The closer the efficiency is to 100, the better the rectifier is. AC rectification can be accomplished using two diodes and a center tapped transformer or using a full bridge rectifier (FBR) which uses four diodes. In this thesis, a full bridge rectifier is designed and built that utilizes an active diode circuit in LTSpice. The FBR circuit is simulated and assessed with two different sources. The first source is an ideal piezoelectric energy harvester equivalent circuit, and the second source is test data from a cantilever beam piezoelectric energy harvester.
Details
- Title
- Leveraging Active Diode Rectification to Improve Piezo Energy Harvesting
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Contributors
- Bhuvana Ramachandran (Committee Chair) - University of West Florida, Dr. Muhammad Harunur Rashid Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringTarek Youssef (Committee Member) - University of West Florida, Dr. Muhammad Harunur Rashid Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringJeff McGuirk (Committee Member) - University of West Florida, Dr. Muhammad Harunur Rashid Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Publisher
- University of West Florida Libraries; Argo Scholar Commons
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 43
- Identifiers
- 99381357076206600
- Academic Unit
- Dr. Muhammad Harunur Rashid Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Master of Science (MS)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida