ABSTRACT: This talk presents the principles of vibration energy harvesters and how such devices can be realized. It is an important question how much power can be obtained from a device and there are often challenges in making harvesters that adapt well to different vibration types of excitations. Without making a detailed design, it is still possible to obtain estimates on what is the most power one can hope for in limiting cases. These fundamental performance bounds are higlighted and used to indicate what are the important factors for performance. Examples of electrostatic microelectromechanical vibration-energy harvesters are presented and discussed with regard to how they can be made to perform well compared to the fundamental bounds.

Bio: Einar Halvorsen received the Siv.Ing. degree in physical electronics from the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), Trondheim, Norway, in 1991, and the Dr.Ing. degree in theoretical solid state physics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, formerly NTH), Trondheim, Norway, in 1996. After a postdoc position at the University of Oslo and five years in industry, he joined Vestfold University College, now University of South-Eastern Norway, in Horten, Norway where he is a professor of micro- and nanotechnology. His main research interest is in theory, design, and modeling of microelectromechanical devices, in particular vibration energy harvesters and various types of piezoelectric devices.