Test interface for piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters

The paper presents microcontroller-based interface for testing of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters testing and measurement of their parameters. The interface is proposed as a low-cost solution for laboratory stands with electrodynamic shakers. The proposed system contains power processing circuits for piezoelectric harvesters. The microcontroller sets circuit interconnections suitable for a given test, controls circuitry operation, acquires measurement results and presents them to a user. The investigated piezoelectric harvester parameters include optimal load resistance, maximum generated power, resonant frequencies and mechanical damping coefficient. Output power gain can be also examined for AC/DC converter topology with nonlinear voltage processing SSHI circuit.