Modeling and measurement of micro electrets electrostatic power generator

Abstract

With advances in technology, electrical devices follow the Moores Law, where the size of the devices tends smaller and smaller. With the diminishing supply of natural gas, new energy harvesting methods are being explored. One such method being explored is the kinetic energy harvesting. Researches have been conducted and electrostatic generators integrated with electrets are found to be well suited to harvest the kinetic energy that is vibrant in our environment, car and human traffic movement.

In the initial experiments conducted to measure the natural frequency of the mechanical mechanism in this micro electrets/electrostatic power generator produced high inconsistent result which hinders the proper modelling of the generator.

An analysis and review conducted on the experimentation set up raises multiple sources of external influences and possible sources of error, for example realignment effects due to vibration, electrical-mechanical interactions.

In this report, efforts will be taken to optimise on the measurement of power generation efficiency of the micro electrets/electrostatic power generator. However, due to inconsistency in measurement readings for natural frequency of the system, efforts are focused into improving the experimentation setup to achieve better measurement results.

One such improvement is in the redesigning of the support for the power generator.