Steady-State Oscillations in Resonant Electrostatic Vibration Energy Harvesters

In this paper, we present a formal analysis and description of the steady-state behavior of an electrostatic vibration energy harvester operating in constant-charge mode and using different types of electromechanical transducers. The method predicts parameter values required to start oscillations, allows a study of the dynamics of the transient process, and provides a rigorous description of the system, necessary for further investigation of the related nonlinear phenomena and for the optimisation of converted power. We show how the system can be presented as a nonlinear oscillator and be analysed by the multiple scales method, a type of perturbation technique. We analyse two the most common cases of the transducer geometry and find the amplitude and the phase of steady-state oscillations as functions of parameters. The analytical predictions are shown to be in good agreement with the results obtained by behavioural modeling.