Bennet's Doubler-Extended Converter With Optimized Bias for Enhanced Energy Extraction From Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Bennet's Doubler (BD) significantly enhances the output of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) by alternating two storage capacitors between series and parallel configurations and applying a bias voltage to the TENG. However, challenges such as impedance matching and the risk of breakdown due to excessively high bias voltages can significantly reduce overall output energy, thus decreasing energy conversion efficiency and increasing the risk of unintended electrical discharges. To address these issues, we propose a BD-extended circuit with dual outputs for performance improvement. This design not only considers the breakdown voltage of TENG devices but also enhances efficient energy extraction in a self-powered mode. We evaluated our circuit at excitation frequencies of 1.5 Hz and 3 Hz with load resistance and DC load. At 3 Hz, the output gain with our circuit was up to 2.43 times greater than that achieved with state-of-the-art designs, and obtained the conversion efficiency of 53.49%. Moreover, output gains of 7.67× (at 1.5Hz) and 6.75× (at 3Hz) compared to the maximum output of the FWR, and 9506× (at 1.5Hz) and 2202× (at 3Hz) those of FWRs at a light load with 100KΩ. These results significantly demonstrate our method's effectiveness over existing rectifier designs, presenting a promising approach for implementing TENG-based systems.