Analysis and Experiment of Self‐Powered, Pulse‐Based Energy Harvester Using 400 V FEP‐Based Segmented Triboelectric Nanogenerators and 98.2% Tracking Efficient Power Management IC for Multi‐Functional IoT Applications

Abstract A self‐powered system for the Internet of Things (IoT) is demonstrated for efficient energy harvesting of naturally available mechanical energy. In this system, new contact‐separation mode triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), based on fluorinated ethylene propylene, are investigated using the segmented multi‐TENG configuration to reduce the effect of parasitic capacitance. The TENG extraction is optimized using a unit step excitation involved with the Dawson function to achieve a high voltage (400 V) and a high current (26.6 µA). To fully extract the power of the TENGs, the power management integrated circuit (PMIC) specially designed for adaptively controlled, high‐voltage (HV) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is proposed. The PMIC implemented in a bipolar CMOS‐DMOS 180 nm process can handle a wide input range (5–70 V) by consuming 420 nW. The MPPT control allows a wide range of impedance matching from 10 to 300 MΩ, achieving a tracking efficiency of up to 98.2%. The end‐to‐end efficiency of 88% demonstrates state‐of‐the‐art performance. To supply a higher instantaneous power than that available from the TENGs, a duty‐cycling technique is successfully demonstrated. The proposed energy harvesting system provides a promising approach to realizing sustainable and autonomous energy sources for various IoT applications.