This article presents a method for modifying an electrostatic harvester (EH) to allow autonomous management of its charge. The method involves segmenting a naturally antagonistic (out-of-phase) EH and connecting it… Click to show full abstract
This article presents a method for modifying an electrostatic harvester (EH) to allow autonomous management of its charge. The method involves segmenting a naturally antagonistic (out-of-phase) EH and connecting it with diodes to form an integrated self priming circuit (I-SPC). A model for the I-SPC is presented and shown that an exponential increase in voltage on the EH will occur over 10's of harvesting cycles. Furthermore, the model finds that increasing the segmentation of the EH allows harvesting at lower capacitance change ratios. The model is validated through simulation and experiment. The experiment is performed using a dielectric elastomer EH which consists of eight segments. During experimentation, it is confirmed that an I-SPC charged to
               
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