Analysis of Energy Harvesting Using Frequency Up-Conversion by Analytic Approximations

Energy harvesting is the process of capturing energy existing in the environment of a wireless device in order to power its electronics without the need to manually recharge the battery. By replenishing on-board energy storage autonomously, the need to recharge or replace the battery can be eliminated altogether, enabling devices to be placed in difficult-toreach areas. Vibration-based energy harvesting in particular has garnered much attention due to the ubiquity of vibrational energy in the environment, especially around machinery and vehicles (Roundy et al., 2003). Although several methods of electromechanical transduction from vibrations have been investigated, this chapter focuses on utilizing the piezoelectric effect.