Abstract:

This talk presents the development of an acoustic energy harvester using an electromechanical Helmholtz resonator (EMHR). The EMHR consists of an orifice, cavity, and a piezoelectric diaphragm. When the acoustic wave is incident on the EMHR, a portion of acoustic energy is converted to electrical energy via piezoelectric transduction in the diaphragm of the EMHR. Moreover, the diaphragm is coupled with energy reclamation circuitry to increase the efficiency of the energy conversion. Two power converter topologies are adopted to demonstrate the feasibility of acoustic energy reclamation using an EMHR. The first is comprised of only a rectifier, and the second uses a rectifier connected to a flyback converter to improve load matching. Experimental results indicate that approximately 30 mW of output power is harvested for an incident sound pressure level of 160 dB with a flyback converter. Such power level is sufficient to power a variety of low power electronic devices.